Traders at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 shed 0.37% to 11,673.42 points yesterday.

AFP/London

European stocks marked a pause yesterday despite growing optimism over Greece which was given a further boost as the EU approved a €7bn bridge loan for Athens.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies slid 0.31% to end the day at 6,775.08 points, while in Frankfurt the DAX 30 shed 0.37% to 11,673.42 points.
Milan slipped 0.07% and Madrid gave up 0.26%.
The CAC 40 in Paris bucked the trend end the day up 0.06% to 5,124.39 points.
In foreign exchange deals, the euro slipped to $1.0855 from $1.0875 late on Thursday in New York.
“European shares cooled off yesterday but are set to finish the week in winning fashion as relief over the Greece debt deal, a recovery in Chinese equities and impressive US earnings encouraged a return to risk-taking,” said CMC Markets UK analyst Jasper Lawler.
The CAC 40 climbed 4.4% over the week during which Greece and the eurozone agreed in principle on a new €86bn bailout package to keep the country from crashing out of the euro.
The DAX 30 gained 3.2%, while the FTSE added 1.5%.
Yesterday “the market caught its breath a bit and lacked a catalyst to go one way or the other,” said Daniel Larrouturou, managing director at Diamand Bleu Gestion.
Markets failed to gain traction from the EU agreeing on a short-term loan of 7.16bn euros to help Greece avoid a catastrophic default on a repayment to the European Central Bank on Monday and make other payments for the next month while negotiations proceed on a third bailout since 2010.
Those negotiations received a fillip when German lawmakers gave yesterday their green light after an impassioned plea from Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But analysts said there were still plenty of hurdles ahead on Greece.
“The plan for a third Greek bailout has cleared a number of hurdles over the last week, including provisional approval by the Greek and German parliaments. But there are plenty of obstacles yet to be negotiated, including the fiscal targets, the proposed privatisation fund and, above all, debt relief,” said Jonathan Loynes at Capital Economics.
US stocks traded mixed but the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index pushed further into record territory, powered by Google shares which surged 14.7%.
In midday trade in New York, the Nasdaq was at 5,195.41 points, up 0.62% from Thursday’s record close.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.41% to 18,046.76, while the broad-based S&P 500 slipped 0.06% to 2,122.94.
Google’s second-quarter earnings climbed 2% to $3.4bn on an 11% rise in revenue to $17.7bn, helped by strong growth in advertising on mobile platforms.
The surge lifted Google’s market capitalisation to around $450bn, second only to Apple.