Economy of Greece

Greek gambling monopoly OPAP posted a bigger-than-expected drop in its 2013 net profit, hurt by a new tax the country imposed on the firm to help plug its budget shortfall.

Greece slapped a 30 percent levy on OPAP’s gross gaming revenue last year to meet the terms of its 237-billion-euro international bailout.

The closing auctions helped the Greek stock market’s benchmark index to post gains of almost 1 percent on Friday, as it registered a small weekly drop of 0.21 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,327.87 points, adding 0.98 percent to Thursday’s 1,314.99 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 1.05 percent to 428.65 points.

Most of the trade during Wednesday’s bourse session in Athens was focused on banks Alpha and Piraeus, with the former adding over 4 percent and the latter shedding almost 6 percent on a day of moderate gains for the main index with a significant rise in turnover.

The Greek bourse’s main index endured minor losses in Monday’s session in relatively thin trading, as stocks showed a mixed picture.

Greek bond yields dipped on Friday after Standard & Poor's said it could raise Greece's credit ratings if GDP growth were to pick up more substantially, after keeping them deep in junk territory with a stable outlook.

Banks led the benchmark to considerable gains in the Greek bourse’s first session this week, as the government’s announced intention to table the draft law for banks’ share capital increases soon, with Eurobank being the main point of interest, added to the euphoria imported from foreign markets.

 Government must balance needs for this year’s budget targets with impact on growth and political gains

By Dimitris Kontogiannis

Stocks had already begun to inch up during Tuesday’s bourse session even before news of the agreement to reduce natural gas rates was made public. The deal gave the benchmark index a final push to rise above the 1,260-point level, on increased trading.