Europe seen higher as Greek placates region

European equities are expected to open higher on Wednesday as investors are calmed by the new Greek government's attempts to placate its creditors.

European markets are seen opening higher following new proposals from Greece over debt restructuring. Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis proposed a swap of outstanding debt for new growth-linked bonds on Monday. The proposals are a step back from Greece's demands last week, just days into the new government, for a debt haircut that Europe has ruled out.

The next test for the proposals comes on Wednesday when Greek Prime Minister Tsipras meets with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.

After Varoufakis met Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Tuesday, Renzi said that although he wanted to help Greece, this didn't mean he would always agree with the new Greek government led by Alexis Tsipras, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile in Asia, equities traded higher early Wednesday, overlooking a drop in crude oil prices in early Asian trading, while traders digest a raft of earnings releases in Tokyo and Sydney.

U.S. crude futures fell more than 2 percent after a tumbling U.S. dollar had pushed up prices by about 19 percent over the last four sessions. This week's rebound sparked hopes that prices had hit a bottom after a seven-month rout but growth concerns in China have prompted renewed concern for demand.

China's services sector grew at the slowest pace in six months in January as growth in new business weakened, an HSBC services purchasing manager's index (PMI) showed Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Earnings are due from GlaxoSmithKline, Neste Oil, Kabel Deutscheland, KPN, BBVA, Lundin Petroleum, Syngenta and Sky. On the data front, Italy published fourth quarter gross domestic product data and Markit's composite PMI data for the euro zone is also due.