National Bank of Greece ADR (fka NBGGY)

[Victor6]

Political Turmoil in Greek market ends up


Athens Stock Exchange ends higher on Wednesday buoyed by hopes that Greece?s recent political turmoil may be coming to a end with the passing of legislation needed to unlock the next international aid tranche.

A working party of the Eurogroup will meet late next week to confirm whether the country has completed its commitments.
German Finance Minister Schaeuble has meanwhile ruled out a further debt writedown for Greece.

He also told Greeks to stop lobbying for more debt forgiveness during a visit to Athens on Thursday that forced authorities to shut the city center and ban protests against the deeply unpopular champion of austerity.

Visiting the country for the first time since its debt problems kindled the euro zone crisis four years ago, Wolfgang Schaeuble?s motorcade drove through streets empty except for riot police to meet a packed audience of Greek businessmen.

Germany has been forced to stump up billions in aid to keep Greece and other struggling euro member countries afloat.

His visit came hours after Greece?s parliament narrowly passed a scheme to fire thousands of public sector workers to secure an additional 7 billion euros in aid, ignoring mass protests by teachers and policemen outside.

Still, banking stocks haved pushed higher in Athens, with National Bank climbing 10%; Eurobank Ergasias +4%. Elsewhere, OTE +2.1% and OPAP +1.4%.

On the board the General Index ends 1.71% higher at 846.95.


http://english.capital.gr/News.asp?id=1838144