Europe Union finance ministers remained divided on Tuesday over what data would be published in banks stress tests due in 10 days but pledged to make them as transparent as possible.
The European Central Bank slowed the pace of its controversial buying of government bonds to a near halt last week, adding substance to suggestions from one of its top policymakers that the programme could soon be phased out.
European finance ministers will shift their focus next week onto a possible need for banks to raise more capital and on who will cover any shortfalls exposed by stress tests -- a sum which Credit Suisse estimated could reach 90 billion euros ($114 billion).
Bank-to-bank euro borrowing costs extended their march higher on Friday as the market repriced those rates following the recent drop in excess money market liquidity when 442 billion euros of one-year loans expired.
Gold buying has intensified on the late-June/early July sell offs and capitalising on this fall were the Asian investors, jewelry manufacturers and possibly a few central banks, according to Jeffrey Nichols, Senior Economic Advisor to Rosland Capital.
European shares gained ground on Thursday with investors scooping up battered banking stock as details of the sector's stress tests started to emerge, adding to a tentative recovery from a sharp two-week sell-off.
Interbank euro funding costs rose on Thursday and could shift if European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet surprises with plans for more liquidity provision or news on bank stress tests.
Trichet was due to begin a news conference at 1230 GMT after the bank held interest rates at 1 percent, as expected.
In an effort to reassure financial markets about the health of the European Union's banking system, the bloc's countries will stress-test a large number of their banks and publish the results.
European regulators haggled over how much detail to reveal about health checks on the region's lenders in a fight that may undermine the exercise's aim of restoring confidence.
The European Central Bank faces a grilling on Thursday on the euro zone's recovery outlook, bank stress tests and its liquidity operation plans.
Euro interbank lending rates edged up on Monday as the market focused on how much weekly ECB funding banks will roll at the first tender operation since last week's repayment of almost half a trillion euros.
Central banks may be the only remaining line of defense against a scary-but-remote double-dip recession threat.
Budget cuts and structural reforms will help cement economic recovery, while bank stress tests will help restore confidence, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Sunday.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Sunday he did not believe Europe was facing recession and renewed his support for reforms and deficit cuts to boost confidence.
Banks borrowed less than expected from the European Central Bank in a key funding operation on Wednesday, easing fears about how they would cope with repaying close to half a trillion euros in emergency loans on Thursday.
Banks borrowed less than expected from the European Central Bank in a key funding operation on Wednesday, easing fears about how they would cope with repaying close to half a trillion euros in emergency loans on Thursday.
European shares rose 0.6 percent in a choppy morning session on Wednesday after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced results for its latest liquidity operation.
European Central Bank officials scrambled to reassure nervous markets on Tuesday that the expiry of nearly half a trillion euros of emergency loans would not hurt the banking system, though they acknowledged some individual banks might face strain.
Strikes in Greece and Spain highlighted resistance to Europe-wide austerity measures on Tuesday as the euro and shares tumbled ahead of a deadline for banks to repay a giant European Central Bank cash injection.
European policymakers defended budget austerity plans on Thursday ahead of a G20 summit set to pit calls for fiscal restraint against warnings that heavy cost-cutting threatens recovery.
Budget austerity plans will not drag the euro zone economy into stagnation, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was quoted on Thursday as saying.
Benchmark bank-to-bank euro lending costs edged higher on Tuesday as demand for funds increased before the quarter end and the expiry of the European Central Bank's 442 billion euro one-year refinancing operation.
