Economy of Greece

In anticipation of yet another crucial Eurogroup meeting ? this time scheduled for Monday in Brussels ? traders mostly held back on Friday, with sellers keeping the upper hand.

The Greek bourse has apparently already priced in the clash between the new administration in Athens and the country?s creditors, as well as the expected isolation of Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis at next week?s Eurogroup meeting, as stocks gave up less than 2 percent on Friday upon the announcement of the five-day ultimatum given to Athens to present its next moves.

The European Central Bank?s decision not to accept Greek bonds as collateral for local lenders to gain access to liquidity as of next Wednesday, along with the Greek and German finance ministers? meeting, weighed heavily on the Athens bourse on Thursday. However the 9 percent drop at the start of the session had been reduced to just 3.37 percent by the end.

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Greece's new SYRIZA government spent its first week in power trying to make friends with European policymakers and wary investors. The firm that says it is one of Athens's largest private creditors is already on board.

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Greek borrowing costs leapt and bank shares were hammered on Thursday after the European Central Bank abruptly pulled the plug on its funding for the country's financial sector in what Athens labelled an act of coercion.

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Greece's plans to make its debt more manageable by swapping rescue loans for growth-indexed bonds may be deemed illegal under European Union rules, according to a lawyer who worked on the country's 2012 debt restructuring.

Following the announcement of the European Central Bank’s decision on Wednesday to restrict the eligibility of Greek bonds used as collateral, heavy losses were recorded at the Athens Stock Exchange at 11.00 on Thursday.

More specifically, the basic share price index was down 5.72%, standing at 799.56 points and turnover was at 25.055 million euros.

Volatility was the name of the game for another day on the Athens bourse, which closed on Wednesday with gains of less than 1 percent for the benchmark having ranged from gains of 2.77 percent to losses of 2.63 percent, while the turnover level clearly indicated that the Greek market is back on the radar of investors, for better or worse.

Following Greek government's decision to abandon its request for a "haircut", the markets took a breather.

Also opens the way for meetings between the Greek Minister of Finance and the ECB President as well as with his German counterpart.

The decision led to a rally in the Greek stock market and crated declines in yields on Greek bonds.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis efforts to rally support for Greece have met with market euphoria shown on the Athens Stock Exchange. Even though Germany has yet to officially agree to Varoufakis’ proposals concerning the linkage of Greek debt with growth, the markets have shown positivity with hefty gains.