ATHEX: Growth continues as deal with creditors edges nearer

The third consecutive day of stock gains in the Greek bourse on Friday brought the weekly gains of the benchmark to 3.76 percent and those of the bank index to over 10 percent, as the government edged ever closer to fulfilling most of the demands of its creditors.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 605.61 points, adding 0.69 percent to Thursday's 601.48 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.86 percent to end at 168.42 points.

OPAP gaming company led blue chips growing 3.40 percent, followed by METKA (up 2.76 percent) and OTE telecom (2.61 percent). National Bank gave up 3.06 percent.

In total 57 stocks posted gains, 28 took losses and 26 closed unchanged.

Turnover came to 79.3 million euros, up from Thursday's 72.9 million.

In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange advanced 0.57 percent to close at 67.32 points...