Percentage

BELGRADE - The jobless rate in Serbia stood at 20.8 percent in the first quarter, shows a survey by the national statistical office.

The male unemployment rate was at 20.1 percent and female one at 21.6 percent.

The thumbs-up given by Moody’s to Greek banks, coupled with the expected return of Eurobank and Viohalco to the blue-chip index ended the decline of Greek stocks with a late rally that gave the benchmark marginal gains on Tuesday.

A late rally by blue chips including Piraeus and National offset the losses that the Athens bourse benchmark had been showing up to about half an hour before the end of Thursday's trading, with the rise in international markets also serving to assist in the recovery.

The bourse recovery continued for a third consecutive day on Tuesday, as blue chips led the benchmark to gains of almost 1 percent in the first session after the Easter holidays.

OTE telecom shares led the Greek bourse to another day of moderate gains on Wednesday as it cast aside investor fatigue and reservations to help the benchmark climb above 1,350 points.

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.

BELGRADE - The value of construction works performed by Serbian contractors declined by 8.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year against the same period in 2012, states a release issued by the Statistical Office.