Before the bell: Global markets mixed on Greek debt swap

Markets are mixed Friday as Greece appears headed toward an agreement with private-sector creditors over a €100 billion (US$131 billion) debt swap deal.

Reports suggest Greece will pay an "average coupon below 4 per cent" on newly issued debt, with the talks centred on an average yield of around 3.7 per cent to 3.8 per cent. But the Eurozone crisis is far from over as investors remain concerned about the likelihood of a default by Portugal.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was recently 0.2 per cent lower at 257.36. London's FTSE 100 fell 0.4 per cent to 5772.82, Paris's CAC-40 was 0.4 per cent lower at 3350.74 and Frankfurt's DAX dipped 0.1 per cent to 6537.43. The euro currency is at US$1.3093.

In Asia, trading remains thin due to the Lunar New Year holidays. Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average dipped 0.1 per cent to 8841.22, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.3 per cent to 20501.67 and South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.4 per cent to 1964.83. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 0.4 per cent to 4288.40.

On Wall Street, U.S. futures are pointing to a higher open. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 25 points at 12709. Th Dow briefly reached its highest level in 3.5 years on Thursday, before pulling back heading into the close. Futures for the S&P's 500 Index rose 2.4 points to 1317.7 and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 8.25 points at 2461.5 on Friday.

Investors await corporate earnings reports from the Ford Motor Co., the Proctor & Gamble Co., a U.S. fourth quarter gross domestic product report, and the Reuters/University of Michigan's final report on the consumer sentiment index for January.

Here at home, Canada's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 74.89 points to 12,464.32 on Thursday amid some negative U.S. housing and jobs data while the TSX Venture Exchange rose 10.73 points to 1,614.77. The Canadian dollar is presently at 99.83¢ US.