Alpha Bank

The talks on the Greek debt between the country and its international creditors are finally making a progress after Athens replaced the head of its negotiation team.

The negotiations had been led by Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, but the change was necessitated as he was increasingly being criticised by his European partners.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

The heads of Greece?s four systemic banks stress the need for an agreement between the government and the country?s international creditors to end uncertainty and put the economy back on the path to growth.

The local stock market reacted positively on Monday after the government?s negotiating team was reshuffled ? in a move that appears to have sidelined the much-criticized Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis ? taking the benchmark close to 800 points in what was the fourth consecutive session of gains for most stocks.

Fitch Ratings said in a statement on Tuesday that the Greek government?s intention to create a ?bad bank? is a positive step toward achieving reform because it recognized that high volumes of nonperforming loans (NPLs) are impeding new lending.

Turnover on the Greek stock market remained low on Thursday, only marginally higher than Wednesday?s two-month low, as the bourse prepared to close through Tuesday for the Western Easter, when most other eurozone markets will also be closed. Blue chips saw moderate gains in Thursday?s session, while mid- and small-caps headed lower.

Greece appointed early on Tuesday new management at the country's privatization agency (TAIPED), which is expected to play a key role in implementing the leftist government's plans to limit further state asset sell-offs.

Greek lenders Bank of Piraeus and Eurobank will drop out of the pan-European STOXX 600 benchmark, index compiler STOXX said, potentially depriving them of investment flows at a rocky time for Greek's economic future.

Despite a recent rebound, shares in the two banks are down around 65 percent since February 2014, hurt by worries over Greece's debt pile.

Following a recent decision by the ratings firm change Greece’s credit rating to under monitoring regime, Moody’s announced today the credit assessment of the five Greek banks.
More specifically, Piraeus Bank, National Bank and Alpha Bank from Caa1 downgraded to Caa2, while Eurobank and Attica Bank from Caa3 downgraded to Caa2.

Following Greek government's decision to abandon its request for a "haircut", the markets took a breather.

Also opens the way for meetings between the Greek Minister of Finance and the ECB President as well as with his German counterpart.

The decision led to a rally in the Greek stock market and crated declines in yields on Greek bonds.

By Francesco Canepa and Blaise Robinson

European shares snapped a four-day rally on Wednesday with Greeks shares under pressure as anti-bailout party Syriza consolidated its lead ahead of the Jan. 25 general election.