ATHEX index posts gains

Hopes that an agreement to ease Greece’s debt can be reached in the next few weeks led to the Greek bourse chalking up respectable gains at the end of yesterday’s session, with the banks index advancing by 2.99 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 620.29 points, adding 1.03 percent to Friday’s 613.95 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.81 percent to close at 1,679.01 points.

Given that – for better or worse – the Greek credit sector is largely insulated from the rest of the eurozone, the Italian jitters made little impact in Athens yesterday, and bank stocks outperformed the rest of the local market: National jumped 3.77 percent, Eurobank rose 3.06 percent, Alpha climbed 2.79 percent and Piraeus increased 2.55 percent.

There was also growth for Hellenic Petroleum, which ended up 3.87 percent, while Public Power Corporation gave up 1.94 percent.

In total 64 stocks reported gains, 31 suffered losses and 15 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 60.5 million euros, up from last Friday’s 55.6 million.

In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange advanced 0.92 percent to close at 64.62 points.