Economy of Greece

News of the rate cut by the European Central Bank gave Greek stocks a boost on Thursday, with banks benefiting the most, while turnover continued to grow, rising above the 100-million-euro mark.

Greece’s OPAP, one of Europe’s biggest betting firms, said on Monday that its second-quarter results would be hurt by a 21.6-million-euro ($28.5 million) retroactive tax.

OPAP said in a bourse filing that the tax, which dates back to 2010, may be reduced as it has already appealed to the Finance Ministry in Athens.

The Athens Stock Exchange general index closed 1.1 percent higher on Friday, at 1,56.37 points, as turnover totaled 79.01 million euros.

Trading in shares of Hellas Online was suspended after Vodafone announced it was buying another 73 percent stake in the Greek Internet provider.

Hellas Online’s share price had risen by 20 percent to reach 0.5050 euros.

It was by a hair-thin margin that the Greek economy missed recording positive growth for the first time since 2008 in the second quarter of 2014, the German bank Berenberg said in an analysis on Wednesday.

By Nikos Chrysoloras & Rebecca Christie

Greece’s government will draft a new legal framework by early September for restructuring non-performing loans, Development Minister Nikolaos Dendias said.

The recovery of the Greek economy is continuing and even starting to gain strength, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said on Monday.

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

The persisting gloomy outlook sent Greek stocks south for a tenth straight session on Friday.

The strong pressure on stocks, which doesn’t look like abating anytime soon, is considered a combined result of geopolitical tensions, uncertainty over banks in view of the ECB stress tests and the upcoming announcement of listed firms’ first-half results, due by the end of the month.

A rebound in bank shares failed to avert a further slide for the Athens stock market’s general index on Thursday in a session described as an exciting slogging match between buyers and sellers.

The banks index gained 4.17 percent to 144 points, led by Piraeus (7.94 percent) and buttressed by National Bank (3.14 percent), Eurobank (3.62 percent) and Alpha (2.09 percent).

The Greek bourse reverted to a downward course on Tuesday, with the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ending at 1,195.96 points after shedding 1.43 percent from Monday’s 1,213.31 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 index contracted 1.56 percent to close at 384.20 points.