Percentage

60.2 percent of Romanians say the country is protected in the event of a conflict in the region by its NATO member's status, while 49.3 percent agree with an increase in the defence spending, shows an INSCOP pollsters survey made public on Thursday.

Greek stocks staged an impressive rebound on Tuesday, with the Athens benchmark adding almost 5 percent and all blue chips securing healthy gains on the day that more than 1.136 billion new National Bank shares were introduced.

Fears regarding Greece’s political stability in this election period saw investors feeling overexposed to the Athens market continue their flight on Friday, forcing major losses on the bourse for the second day in a row.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday assigned Intralot’s recently issued 250-million-euro seven-year bond a final BB-/RR3 rating.

Athens-listed Intralot generates only 5 percent of its revenues and less than 10 percent of its EBITDA in Greece.

By Nikos Roussanoglou

Rental rates for offices in Athens posted a fresh year-on-year decline of 14.5 percent in the first quarter of 2014, according to a survey conducted by certified surveyors Geoaxis.

SYRIZA is half a percentage point ahead of New Democracy in terms of popularity ahead of the May 25 European elections, though the conservatives are 1.4 percent more likely to get reelected if general elections were being held now, a poll by GPO conducted on behalf of Mega television channel showed on Tuesday.

Building activity fell by 20.7 percent in February, compared to a year earlier, as measured by the number of permits issued, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) said on Monday.

There was a 15.1 percent decrease in the surface built and 5.9 percent fall in volume. There was a total of 983 permits issued in February.

Greek industrial output fell 3.1 percent year-on-year in March, from an upwardly revised expansion of 3.1 percent in the previous month, statistics service (ELSTAT) said on Friday.

Eurobank dominated the action during Tuesday’s bourse session. The bank stock’s major decline combined with its 53.5 percent share of all trading on the day sent indices lower as the turnover climbed.

By Stathis Kousounis

Greece has in the first months of the year recorded far greater growth rates in foreign tourism arrivals and in travel revenues than its direct competitors in the region, according to official data.