Shares in Asia drop as markets eye faltering talks on Greece debt

Investing.com - Asian shares fell on Friday, weighed down by poor prospects for talks over a bailout pacakge for Greece as a hard deadline approaches.

The Nikkei 225 fell 0.47%, while the Shanghai Composite plunged 3.40% and the Hang Seng index dropped 1.07%. The S&P/ASX 200 was also down - easing 1.69% in the afternoon.

Talks between Greece and its creditors remained inconclusive, as discussions continued over the latest proposed reforms from Greece’s creditors and Greece’s counter-proposal.

Greece's Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, told European Union Leaders Thursday in Brussels that any deal with creditors "must be viable and have adequate funding" a Greek official told journalists.

Tsipras spoke during the Leaders' dinner where the Greek issue was discussed and according to the official some leaders were "more favorable and some more harsh." Nonetheless, Tsipras expressed his optimism that a deal could be reached by the end of the week.

The Greek premier said that his government presented adequate and credible proposals in line with creditors' demands and that "Greece does not need more austerity but a growth agenda, investments and structural reforms."

The emergency negotiations could resume on Saturday, The Guardian reported.

“We shall continue our deliberations, the institutions are going to look again at the two documents - our documents and their own, there will be discussions with the Greek government, and we’ll continue until we find a solution,” Greece finance minister Yanis Varoufakis told reporters in Brussels.

Time is running out for the Greek government to secure a deal to unlock bailout funds ahead of the looming deadline for a €1.6 billion repayment to the International Monetary Fund on June 30.

If Greece misses the payment it risks going into default, which could trigger the country’s exit from the euro area.

Earlier Japan's blizzard of data showed national core CPI rose 0.1%, a bit better than the flat result expected, though off pace from April's 0.3% rise, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.3% as forecast with 20,000 jobs added.

More importantly, household spending jumped 2.4% month-on-month in May, beating the 2.2% gain expected and putting it on an annual pace of 4.8%, well above the 3.4% seen, for the first rise in 14 months.

Overnight, U.S. stocks fell slightly on Thursday extending losses from one session earlier, in spite of a surge in hospital stocks and a potential major merger in the managed health care industry, after the Supreme Court upheld a provision in the Affordable Care Act validating subsidies in states that did not set up their own insurance exchanges.

A ruling against the provision would have threatened millions of dollars worth of subsidies in more than 35 U.S. states and may have jeopardized the program altogether. Shares in a plethora of prominent hospital such as Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:NYSE:THC), HCA Holdings Inc . (NYSE:HCA) and Community Health Systems Inc (NYSE:CYH) skyrocketed upon the news, each ending the session up more than 8%.

Hours later, reports surfaced of a potential imminent merger between health insurers Aetna Inc (NYSE:NYSE:AET) and Humana Inc (NYSE:NYSE:HUM), as lingering uncertainties in the health care industry waned following the ruling. Shares in Humana jumped more than 7% to 197.51, while Aetna gained nearly 4% to 132.60 following the news.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and NASDAQ Composite index fell mildly, moving lower for the second consecutive session. The Dow lost 75.71 or 0.42% to 17,890.36, while the NASDAQ dipped 10.22 or 0.20% to 5,112.19, as concerns relating to the stalled Greek Debt negotiations weighed.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, fell 6.27 or 0.30% to 2,102.31, as eight of 10 sectors closed in the red. Stocks in the Energy and Utilities sectors lagged, each ending the session down by more than 0.5%. Stocks in the Telecommunications and Health Care industries led, each gaining more than 0.35%.