VENTURE CAPITAL POST

European stocks dipped and low-rated bond yields rose on Monday after dismal Chinese trade data and signs of increasingly fraught relations between Greece and its international creditors kept investors cautious.

Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras laid out plans on Sunday to dismantle Greece's "cruel" austerity program, ruling out any extension of its international bailout and setting himself on a collision course with his European partners.

Greece said on Saturday it had no short-term cash problem and that it will hand its European Union partners a comprehensive plan next week for managing the transition to a new debt deal.

Greece's new leftist-led government, isolated in the euro zone and under pressure from the European Central Bank, said on Friday it wanted no more bailout money with strings attached from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Greek borrowing costs leapt and bank shares were hit hard on Thursday after the European Central Bank abruptly pulled the plug on its funding for the country's financial sector in what Athens labelled an act of coercion.

Greece has started negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over a plan to swap its sovereign debt for growth-linked bonds, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said in an interview published on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank is considering withdrawing from the "troika" of international lenders that governs Greece's international bailout, German business daily Handelsblatt reported on Tuesday.

Greece's leftist government on Sunday began its drive to persuade a sceptical Europe to accept a new debt agreement while it starts to roll back on austerity measures imposed under its existing bailout agreement.

The new Greek government's anti-bailout stance has sent shudders through much of Europe but Germany's euroskeptic AfD party can hardly believe its good fortune ahead of a regional election as a breakup of the euro zone suddenly appears possible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out a debt writedown for Greece on Saturday, and a European Central Bank policymaker threatened to cut off funding to Greek banks if Athens does not agree to renew its bailout package.

New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, striking a conciliatory note on debt talks after a turbulent start to office, has called the European Central Bank chief to assure him that Athens was seeking an agreement.

Greece should not undermine EU policy on Russia at a time when it is seeking support from its partners over its economic problems, European parliament President Martin Schulz told Greek newspapers on Friday.

This week's visit to Athens by the head of the euro zone finance ministers' group will mark the start of Greece's negotiations on changing the conditions of its international bailout accord, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threw down an open challenge to international creditors on Wednesday by halting privatisation plans agreed under the country's bailout deal, prompting a third day of heavy losses on financial markets.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Monday Greece's leader Alexis Tsipras would have to "find a different way" to solve Greece's problems if he says he does not want money from the euro zone bailout program.