ATHEX: As negotiations stretch on, profit taking follows last week's stocks rally

As investors continued to await the conclusion of the government's negotiations with the country's creditors, profit taking dominated Monday's session at the Greek bourse, on the heels of last week's mini-rally that saw the benchmark clear 600 points. The first hour of trading resulted in gains, but the majority of stocks sank into negative territory for the rest of the day.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 597.56 points, shedding 1.38 percent from Friday's 605.92 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 1.59 percent to end at 167.44 points.

Alpha Bank declined 4.87 percent and Eurobank lost 4.34 percent, as the banks index gave up 3.61 percent. Ellaktor was even worse off, dropping 5.30 percent, but Titan Cement advanced 0.99 percent and Coca-Cola HBC added 0.56 percent.

In total 32 stocks recorded gains, 60 took losses and 14 closed...