Index

The majority of Greek stocks posted gains on Thursday, in anticipation of positive news from the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels. The optimism, however, did not extend to banks.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 660.59 points, adding 0.21 percent to Wednesday's 659.19 points.

The European Stability Mechanism's decision to unfreeze short-term debt lightening measures for Greece, and the seven consecutive sessions of decline for the banks index fueled a significant upturn on Tuesday both in stock prices and turnover.

Traders showed on Monday they are not willing to make any major moves before Thursday's Eurogroup meeting, with stocks showing hardly any movement at the start of the week, and trading volume falling even lower than on previous days.

Turkey's economic confidence index increased month-on-month in January, according to an official data released on Jan. 23.

The index was up by 5.6 percent to 66.9 compared to last month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said in a report.      

The financial situation expectations of households index also increased by 2.9 percent reaching 87.9 since December.      

This time the main index of the Greek stock market lost its grip on the 640-point level on Friday, posting losses of just over half a percentage point at the end of the session on prolonged uncertainty regarding the completion of the second bailout review and the participation of the International Monetary Fund in the Greek program.

The benchmark of the Greek bourse recovered most of the day's losses on Thursday to close above 640 points, but traders remained reserved.

The Greek stock market had a mixed session on Tuesday, in line with most of its European peers, with the majority of stocks posting gains while the benchmark and blue chips declined for a third day in a row. Trading volume remained very low, with observers fearing the Athens bourse has attracted the law of gravity that affects markets deprived of any significant news to keep them going.

The decline that began on Friday continued on Monday on the local stock market as uncertainty over the course of Greece's second bailout review and the country's future funding showed no sign of dissipating.

The complete lack of progress recorded by Thursday's Euro Working Group and the confusion generated by Germany's Finance Ministry as to whether a new bailout agreement may be on the way created the conditions for a proper Friday-the-13th session on the Greek bourse on Friday, during which the vast majority of stocks took a dive.

Athinon Avenue retained its slow northbound course on Thursday, hitting a new 14-month high, although trading volume remained very low.