Eurobank

The increasing realization that the general elections will probably take place earlier than scheduled and the continued slide in bond yields powered bank stocks to major gains on Monday, driven by National and Piraeus. Trading volume improved too.

After a narrow trading session with very little movement for the benchmark and the blue chip index, the Greek stock market ended the week with another day of marginal gains on low turnover. The market appeared to have factored in the deal between the government and the banks on the protection of debtors' primary residences and it was a mixed day for bank stocks.

The 4.90 percent decline of Coca-Cola HBC, the Greek stock with the highest capitalization, weighed on both the benchmark and the blue chip index on Thursday, despite gains in banks. Trading volume is slowly improving.

Greek stocks presented a mixed picture after Wednesday's session, as a slight majority of stocks as well as the mid-cap and small-cap indexes headed lower, but the benchmark and blue chips continued to rise.

Piraeus Bank's stock was instrumental to the benchmark staying in the black on Tuesday at Athinon Avenue, as the lender rebounded from three consecutive sessions of losses. This brought the main index to a level unseen since December 5, although the majority of stocks ended with losses and turnover remained disappointing.

Stock prices at Athinon Avenue went from losses to gains over the course of Monday's session as the few active investors continue to believe the local bourse is underpriced after the successful bond issue a week ago. This helped the benchmark climb to a two-month high, even though that was on particularly low turnover.

The Greek bourse ended the week with another day of gains, the fourth in the last five sessions, albeit with the second-lowest daily turnover of the year to date - after that on January 2. Mytilineos buoyed the benchmark higher as investors viewed its decision not to table an improved bid for the Meliti plants in Public Power Corporation's divestment program in a positive light.

Eurobank, Greece's third-largest lender by assets, said on Friday that its takeover of Grivalia Properties was given the green light by the European Union's competition authority because it meets state aid rules.

In November Eurobank agreed a 780-million-euro deal to buy Grivalia Properties to boost its capital and speed up the reduction of sour loans.

After four sessions of gains, the benchmark of the Greek stock market headed lower on Thursday on the European Commission's downbeat projections regarding growth in the eurozone that also concerned Greece. Investor jitters were also evident again in the credit sector.

Deputy Prime Minister Yiannis Dragasakis warned on Wednesday in Parliament of the possibility that local banks may require a fresh capital injection that the Greek taxpayers could once again have to cover.

In doing so, he started to prepare citizens for the consequences of the upcoming plans for tackling nonperforming loans.