Greece offers new proposals in the lead up to debt deadline; CBD car parking start-up raises $2.5 million: Midday Roundup

Euro zone finance ministers have carefully welcomed new reform proposals from Greece, which may help defer the looming default the country faces, Fairfax reports.

With the June 30 deadline looming, Greece is struggling to find the €1.6 billion ($2.34 billion) needed to pay its loan to the International Monetary Fund.

European stock markets joined in on the hopes of a last minute deal to ease a crisis experts say is threatening to drive Greece out of the group of countries that use the euro, a currency that Greece has used for 15 years.

CBD car parking start-up raises $2.5 million

Commercial car park sharing firm Divvy Parking today secured $2.5 million in funding and signed new partnerships with DEXUS Property Group, GPT Group and Knight Frank.

Divvy Parking uses technology to link drivers who need car parking in the city with those that have vacant car spaces.

With this boost in funding and partners, Divvy said in a statement it will expand from a peer-to-peer service into the commercial property sector and aim to make use of the under-utilised short and long-term spaces in Australia’s major cities.

Shares up on Greek hopes

Local shares are up this morning following some international optimism overnight about the situation in Greece.

“Despite a perfect lack of detail, optimism around a ‘Greek solution’ is high, and share markets across the Asia Pacific region are set for gains at the open this morning,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in a statement.

McCarthy said bond yields generally rose, with the notable exceptions of Greek, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese bonds, where yields fell sharply.

“The clear implication is that investors are expecting a Greek deal without debt haircuts or re-structures. This means capitulation on key savings measures by Greek officials [is] the best result for markets.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was up 73.2 points to 5683.4 points at 11:55am AEST. On Monday, the Dow Jones closed up 0.58%, jumping 103.83 points to 18,119.8 points.