Greek stocks plunge as ECB scraps credit line

Greek shares plummeted Thursday after the European Central Bank said it would stop offering government-backed credit to banks there.

The volatile Athens stock exchange fell as much as 10% before recovering slightly to trade down 6%.

The ECB's move, which comes as Greece's new leftist government is trying to renegotiate the terms of its bailout with international creditors ahead of a Feb. 28 deadline, adds pressure to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' 10-day-old government.

His radical leftist Syriza Party has insisted that it will seek new concessions from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Greece and its trio of creditors have indicated they are willing to comprise, but both sides have so far failed to make significant progress toward an agreement that would trim the severity of austerity measures yet leave in place Greece's debt commitments.

The ECB said in a statement that it was removing Greece's option of receiving credit for its banks backstopped by government collateral because the prospect of a deal between the parties looked increasingly uncertain.

Shares across Europe also fell Thursday but much more modestly. Britain's FTSE 100 index was down 0.2% and Germany's DAX benchmark traded flat. France's CAC index fell 0.4%.

Investor confidence on the continent was buoyed in part by a European Union forecast that said all 19 of its economies are likely to grow this year. Eurozone growth overall will rise to 1.3% in 2015, the EU predicted.

Stocks on Wall Street were expected to open higher on Thursday.