Piraeus Bank

Bulgaria's central bank recommended Greek-owned banks to clean their portfolios of securities and deposits which "could incur losses" if Greece leaves the euro, media reports suggest.

The Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) "kindly advised" in March those financial entities, Capital daily quotes a source from a lending institution whose shareholders include Greek citizens.

Piraeus Bank announced late on Friday that it is absorbing the healthy part of Panellinia, a small cooperative bank that failed to complete its required share capital increase.

Piraeus Bank S.A. announced yesterday the acquisition of the “good” part of Panellinia Bank S.A. following a tender offer launched by the Bank of Greece.

According to the announcement released yesterday by Piraeus Bank, its proposal guarantees all job positions of Panellinia’s employees.

International rumors about a Greek eurozone exit and the bleak outlook of the country?s negotiations with its creditors sent local stocks even lower on Wednesday, with banks again bearing the brunt of the selling pressure.

The Greek bourse began the four-day recess having secured daily gains of 1.06 percent and a weekly rise of 0.61 percent, as the government asked its eurozone peers for cash while making it clear that Russia is not a solution to Greece?s financial problems. Thursday?s trading volume was the second lowest of the year.

Stocks were split down the middle between gainers and losers on Friday as the market nervously observes the simmering tensions between the government and the eurozone, with the outcome of negotiations being all the more uncertain. The benchmark added half a percentage point to bring its weekly gains to 3.26 percent.

Cash is drying up in the Greek market and this is being felt increasingly at the local bourse as well, as the benchmark saw all its Tuesday gains evaporate on Thursday on relatively low turnover.

A second day of significant gains for local stocks on Tuesday suggested that investors are fostering fresh hopes that Greece?s creditors have softened their stance and the country will see its cash crunch ease in the coming days, averting a feared default. Turnover dropped below 100 million euros again.

Early losses at the Greek bourse were followed by an attempt at a rebound which was quickly snuffed out by sellers on Monday, leading the benchmark to end up in the red again. Trading volume continued to shrink, with investors avoiding any commitment to local securities as they still fear the worst.

Perpetual warnings about an ?accident? and threats of a Greek referendum continued to aggravate the mood in the local economy on Friday, as reflected in the Athens stock market, which lost over 3 percent.