Eurobank

Greece’s third-largest lender by assets, Eurobank, reported a 301-million-euro loss in the second quarter as loan-loss provisions continued to weigh on its bottom line.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting the bank to post a loss of 238 million euros on average.

By Christos Ziotis

Greece's four biggest banks are seeking as much as 5.4 billion euros ($7.1 billion) from the European Central Bank's first auction of cash aimed at boosting loans to companies and households, according to people with direct knowledge of the plans.

The Athens stock exchange general index headed upward for a sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, rising by 1.56 percent to 1,177.35 points.

This means that the benchmark has risen by a total of 8.36 percent over the last six sessions.

There was a big increase in the turnover during Tuesday’s session.

It reached 92.84 million euros, compared to 44.7 million on Monday.

The overall uncertainty regarding how Greek banks will emerge from October’s stress tests to be conducted on all EU banks has fueled a summer of distress and fluctuation for local banking stocks.

 Sector's denial of any capital injection needs receives backing from positive report delivered by JPMorgan

Greek banking sources are denying reports that the sector will need a new round of increased capital support, announcing that no such news has been delivered to them by the European Central Bank.

Bucking trends elsewhere in Europe, Greek equities came under strong pressure on Monday, following four straight winning sessions.

The slide was led by banks, which accounted for more than half of turnover.

Piraeus was down 2.11 percent to 1.39 euros, National shed 3.33 percent to 2.32 euros and Alpha gave up 2.46 percent to 0.595 euros.

By Nikos Chrysoloras & Rebecca Christie

Greece’s government will draft a new legal framework by early September for restructuring non-performing loans, Development Minister Nikolaos Dendias said.

The end of the Greek recession appeared well within sight on Wednesday, as the country’s gross domestic product contracted at the slowest pace in six years in the second quarter of 2014, according to figures released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

The recovery of the Greek economy is continuing and even starting to gain strength, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Monday.

By Evgenia Tzortzi

The upcoming stress tests which the European Central Bank (ECB) is to conduct on 128 European banks, including four Greek lenders, are expected to be based on a dynamic model that will also take into account their restructuring plans, according to a manual published by the ECB on Friday.