ATHEX: Healthy gains for majority of stocks

The French election result that diminished the possibility of the far-right governing alone, boosted eurozone stocks on Monday and offered the Greek bourse some much-needed fuel for further recovery, greater than last Friday's. Banks continued to drive price growth, helping Athinon Avenue make a very positive start to the year's second half.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,420.83 points, adding 1.18% to Friday's 1,404.26 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 1.65%, ending at 3,457.99 points.

The banks index jumped 3.50%, as Piraeus soared 5.40%, Alpha earned 4.43%, Eurobank fetched 3.76% and National grew 2.06%.

Among the other blue chips, ElvalHalcor stole the show, rising 7.48%, Viohalco augmented 3.51%, and Cenergy Holdings obtained 2.61%, while Titan Cement conceded 1.37% and Aegean Airlines eased 1.11%.

In total 73...