OTE

The anticipated reduction of Piraeus Bank's capital adequacy requirements as set by the European Central Bank served on Monday to boost the bank stock that has suffered the most in recent months - and with it the rest of the bourse - although trading volume was again disappointingly low.

The Bulgarian entrepreneur Spas Rusev has confirmed he is in talks to buy Telekom Romania.

Speaking to Capital, he added that because of the size of the possible transaction he is undertaking it with a partner.

Furthermore, he will at a future date also enter into talks to buy the Macedonian incumbent.

Deutsche Telekom's Greek subsidiary, OTE, is to sell the whole of Telekom Albania to Bulgarian Vivacom owner Spas Roussev and an Albanian-Bulgarian businessman, Elvin Guri, OTE said on Wednesday in a press release.

The start of the new year on the Greek stock market gave traders little to cheer about, with the majority of stocks ending on the losing side and turnover failing even to make the 20-million-euro level, as the Athens bourse appeared to affected by the downbeat mood prevailing across most of Europe.

The main feature of the week's last session at Athinon Avenue was very low trading volume - aside from prearranged packages - with a few buyers taking the benchmark's weekly gains to almost 4 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 643.42 points, adding just 0.43 percent to Thursday's 640.67 points. On a weekly basis it improved 3.88 percent.

Greece's biggest telecoms operator OTE posted on Thursday a 4.7 percent rise in third-quarter core profit thanks to a growing retail fixed and mobile business in its home market.

Belgrade-based daily Politika writes this on Thursday.

Namely, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said two days ago that while Serbian companies are "welcome to Albania" - this is not true when it comes to "a strategic sector like telecommunications."

Serbia's state-run Telekom Srbija has made an offer to acquire Telekom Albania as it looks to expand in the Balkans, the Belgrade-based Vecernje Novosti reported on Monday, citing sources.

Telekom Albania has a 39 percent market share in Albania's telecommunications sector and is 99.79 percent owned by Greece's OTE.

Greek stocks ended higher for the second session in a row on the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, pushed by blue chips.

The general index rose 1.63 percent to close at 731.19 points against Wednesday's 719.46 points. The Large-Cap index ended 1.37 percent higher and the Mid-Cap gained by 0.98 percent.

Greek stocks suffered losses on the Athens Exchange on Tuesday, with the market moving in the opposite direction of its European peers and against analysts' expectations for gains following Greece's exit from its third and final bailout.

The ATHEX general index dropped 1.04 percent to end at 705.20 points, the lowest level recorded since April 2017.