National Bank

The trading week in Athens ended a day early on Thursday with the benchmark posting a small drop on low investor interest.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 588.67 points, shedding 0.13 percent from Wednesday's 589.46 points. On a weekly basis it declined by 0.90 percent.

Greece's privatization agency said it concluded the 400-million-euro ($437 million) sale of Astir Palace, a luxury seaside resort outside Athens, to Turkish-Arab fund Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund on Thursday.

After Tuesday's healthy gains, it was back to the old routine for Greek stocks on Wednesday, with a mixed picture among blue chips and trading volume slipping back below the 30-million-euro level.

The target is set at 80,000 euros, and it must be reached by December 31. Restoring the ancient theater of Cassope, in the region of Epirus, is the latest cultural project to be crowdfunded under National Bank's act4greece program.

The completion of management changes in Greek banks - a critical issue that was supposed to have closed weeks ago - remains open and it appears that it will take several more weeks before new administrations are appointed.

Greece's National Bank has launched a recruitment process for the post of chairman of the board and non-executive board members, bank officials said on Wednesday.

The bank has appointed executive search company EgonZehnder, they said. The deadline for the submission of an expression of interest was September 25.

[Reuters]

The third consecutive day of stock gains in the Greek bourse on Friday brought the weekly gains of the benchmark to 3.76 percent and those of the bank index to over 10 percent, as the government edged ever closer to fulfilling most of the demands of its creditors.

A Morgan Stanley report that was published on Wednesday and forecast a swift end to the country's negotiations with its creditors gave a significant push to the local stock market upon its reopening after the Easter and May Day holidays. The report was particularly bullish on Greek bank stocks, whose index gained 3.01 percent on Wednesday.

The Athens Stock Exchange has returned back to 1989 levels amid uncertainty over completion of the first review of the Greek economic adjustment program, intense social reactions to proposed reforms in the social security and tax systems and scenarios over political developments in the country.

Equity prices were falling on Monday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with the basic share price index down 7.16%, standing at 467 points at 14:40pm.