ATHEX: Top session of year to date at Greek bourse

Bank stocks led the Greek bourse in a rare rally on Tuesday on news of a provisional agreement between the government and the country's creditors ahead of the May 22 Eurogroup, with the benchmark climbing to new highs and trading volume the greatest recorded to date this year.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 733.93 points, adding 3.06 percent to Friday's 712.17 points in what was the biggest daily rise so far in 2017. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 2.81 percent to 1,958.43 points.

The banks index jumped 8.23 percent, with Eurobank outperforming (up 13.28 percent) followed by Piraeus (10.77 percent) and Alpha (6.15 percent), which has seen its stock price climb above its 2015 share capital increase price of 2 euros, to 2.07 euros.

Among the other gainers were PPC (up 5.92 percent), Hellenic Exchanges (4.32 percent) and Viohalco (3.76...