Economy of Greece

Most of the morning gains in Friday’s bourse session evaporated by the end of the day, although the upward momentum created since Tuesday was enough to see the benchmark clear 1,240 points.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,240.16 points, adding 0.65 percent to Wednesday’s 1,232.12 points. On a weekly basis it gained 1.39 percent.

By Derek Gatopoulos

Greece's will achieve better-than-expected budget figures in 2014 year but that unemployment would only decline slowly over the coming four years, the country's finance ministry said Wednesday.

By Vangelis Mandravelis

OPAP’s chairman and chief executive, Kamil Ziegler, outlined on Tuesday the priorities of the Greek gaming monopoly’s new management following its privatization, which mainly concern the introduction of new games and a shift in sponsorship policy.

The thumbs-up given by Moody’s to Greek banks, coupled with the expected return of Eurobank and Viohalco to the blue-chip index ended the decline of Greek stocks with a late rally that gave the benchmark marginal gains on Tuesday.

Credit rating agency Moody's on Tuesday upgraded the Greek banking system from negative to stable and said the country's economy would return to growth this year after a six-year recession.

The absorption of liquidity from banks’ share capital increases and from sovereign and corporate bond issues has this month deprived the local stock market of the cash that would have kept it on the upward course of previous months. Monday’s decline took the bourse’s benchmark below the 1,200-point level, mostly due to the lack of buyers rather than aggressive selling.

Railway operator Trainose said it would cancel services late Wednesday and all services on Thursday, after railway workers announced they will join the Labor Day strike called by private sector union GSEE on May 1.

Alpha and Coca-Cola HBC kept the bourse benchmark above the psychologically significant level of 1,220 points on Friday following an earlier decline that had brought daily losses close to 1 percent.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde is to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 2 in Washington for talks expected to focus on the broader economic situation in the eurozone in general and to touch on the Greek economy and on the prospects for a launch of talks on lightening Greece's debt burden.

A late rally by blue chips including Piraeus and National offset the losses that the Athens bourse benchmark had been showing up to about half an hour before the end of Thursday's trading, with the rise in international markets also serving to assist in the recovery.