Euro, stocks slide as deadline for Greece nears

LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks and the euro fell on Wednesday and the dollar rose as Greece and the euro zone edged closer to confrontation.

Euro zone finance ministers meet in Brussels later on Wednesday and EU leaders on Thursday, but officials are already playing down chances of a breakthrough, even though Greece's bailout expires at the end of the month.

The uncertainty saw European shares <.FTEU3> slip 0.3 percent, led by a 3.5 percent slump in Greek shares <.ATG>. The euro again dipped below $1.13 to the dollar.

Wall Street was also expected to step back when trading opens. U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday after Apple became the first company worth more than $700 billion.

Investor focus was on Brussels, though. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis will offer a plan to end his country?s bailout and buy time until June for a negotiated settlement. But the rest of the euro zone, led by Germany, says Athens needs to push on with privatizations and spending cuts to keep getting funded.

"We have relatively low expectations about a solution being agreed," said Vasileios Gkionakis, UniCredit's global head of FX Strategy.

"I think this meeting is all about laying down the plans and explaining where the two sides disagree. And I think it will set the stage for some increased volatility over the next few days."

The dollar <.DXY> remained firm as traders continued to bet the United States would raise interest rates this year, for the first time in almost a decade.

The dollar reached one-month high against the yen of 119.77 as Treasury yields rose, a reflection of rate hike expectations. Trade was thin, though, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday.

UKRAINE TALKS

Tokyo's day off kept moves in other Asian equity markets in check. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> ended off 0.3 percent. Australia's main index <.AXJO> slipped 0.6 percent, offsetting a 0.2 percent gain in Shanghai <.SSEC>.

In commodity markets, U.S. crude futures bounced 40 cents to $50.42 a barrel on reports that crude inventories rose less than expected. Brent crude gained 25 cents to $56.71, having shed $1.91 on Tuesday.

Safe-haven gold rose 0.3 percent to $1,237.70 an ounce, reversing a drop on Tuesday. Copper climbed to $5,657 a tonne as traders wound down toward the lunar New Year in the metal's biggest market, China.

Greece wasn't the only concern being juggled by investors. The rouble fell more than 1 percent before talks among Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany in Belarus aimed at ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Before the meeting, Ukraine said 19 soldiers had been killed in rebel attacks near the strategic town of Debaltseve. Rebel representatives denied an earlier report that a ceasefire had been agreed.

In Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, the naira fell to 204 to the dollar , a 2 percent drop that saw electronic trading halted.

The naira has repeatedly hit record lows this week as a delay in Nigeria's presidential election stirred concern about political stability and fears the central bank cannot manage a currency hammered by weak oil prices.

"Investors are waiting for another formal devaluation. The question is can the central bank hold on until elections before making the move?," Renaissance Capital's head of research, Charles Robertson, said.

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Larry King)

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