Stocks end higher in post-bailout session

Greek stocks ended higher on the Athens Exchange on Monday, the first day of trading after the completion of the country's third bailout program. The stocks, however, shed initial profits, which exceeded 1.60 percent.

The ATHEX general index ended at 712.61 points - adding 0.32 percent from Friday - and recorded an intraday high of 722.07 points. Turnover came to 27.077 million euros as investors remained cautious. The large-cap FTSE-25 index rose 0.54 percent while mid-caps lost a marginal 0.02 percent.

Sarantis (6.69 pct), National Bank (2.35 pct) and OPAP (2.09 pct) scored the biggest percentage gains among blue chip stocks, while Eurobank (-3.38 pct), Jumbo (-1.96 pct) and Motor Oil (-1.81 pct) suffered the largest losses. In terms of sectors, travel (1.77 pct) and food (1.23 pct) scored gains, while health (-2.29 pct) and oil (-1.24 pct) recorded the biggest losses...