Eurobank

The Greek bourse benchmark saw a fifth consecutive session of losses on Tuesday, with turnover remaining at low levels, as buyers had the upper hand in the morning before conceding ground to sellers in the afternoon.

The turmoil in Iraq sent most European markets into sharp retreat on Friday, and with a benchmark drop of almost 3 percent, the local bourse was no exception. Investors have clearly been far more reserved since the crisis in the oil-rich country erupted earlier this week.

Eurobank, Greece's third-largest lender by assets, said on Friday it had hired five investment banks to arrange a possible bond sale.

"Eurobank... has mandated Credit Suisse, HSBC, JP Morgan, Mediobanca and Nomura to arrange a series of fixed-income investor meetings in Europe starting from June 16," the bank said in a statement.

Declines on most European markets and Tuesday’s International Monetary Fund report demanding measures to plug Greece’s fiscal gap for 2015-16 resulted in significant losses for most stocks during most of Wednesday’s bourse session, although certain blue chips reacted in the last hour of trading and contained the benchmark drop to 1.18 percent.

BELGRADE - Members of the Hellenic Business Association of Serbia have so far provided RSD 20.955 million worth of aid for the victims of recent floods in Serbia, the Greek embassy in Serbia has said.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras described his new cabinet of 45 ministers and deputy ministers as one that would be able to “plan for Greece’s future” after the group of ministers were sworn in and held their first meeting.

By Renee Maltezou and George Georgiopoulos

Economist Gikas Hardouvelis was named as finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle on Monday, signaling an intent to keep up a difficult reform drive demanded by foreign lenders funding the country.

The benchmark of the Greek bourse hit a two-month high on Friday following another session of gains with particularly high trading volume.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,305.16 points, adding 1.49 percent to Thursday’s 1,285.97 points. On a weekly basis it climbed 6.68 percent. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 1.83 percent to 422.39 points.

Greece's economy shrank in the first quarter at its slowest annual pace since late 2008 when its protracted recession began, data showed on Friday, supporting projections that Athens will emerge from a crippling six-year slump this year.

The Greek bourse began the month of June with yet another session of healthy gains on the back of improved first-quarter corporate results along with growing confidence in the local market on the day that Eurobank and Viohalco returned to the blue chip index. Turnover remained above 200 million euros.