European stocks close:

European stocks declined from a five-month high as the region’s finance ministers failed to agree on a debt-swap deal for Greece and called for a greater contribution from bondholders.

The region’s finance ministers, meeting in Brussels yesterday, balked at putting up more public money for Greece, calling on bondholders to provide greater debt relief in order to point the way out of the two-year-old debt crisis.

National benchmark indexes fell in 14 of the 18 western European markets. France’s CAC 40 lost 0.5 percent, as did the U.K.’s FTSE 100. Germany’s DAX retreated 0.3 percent.

A gauge of banking shares fell 1 percent. Societe Generale retreated 5.4 percent to 21.57 euros. Credit Agricole lost 4.1 percent to 5 euros. Societe Generale, France’s second-largest lender, and Credit Agricole had their ratings downgraded to A from A+, with a stable outlook, S&P said yesterday.

Petroplus sank 84 percent to 24 centimes, its biggest decline and the lowest price since it issued shares to the public in November 2006. The company said it plans to file for insolvency in Switzerland and other jurisdictions. The Swiss refiner that has been trying to avoid bankruptcy had about $1 billion in credit lines suspended last month, preventing it from supplying its plants with crude.

Siemens declined 1.3 percent to 77.39 euros. The company said achieving its full-year goals has become harder to reach after profitability at its four divisions slipped as the debt crisis weighs on the economy.