The Athens Stock Exchange saw major gains on Friday, having grown by 4.86%, thanks to the European Central Bank’s decision to buy back EFSF bonds held by Greek banks. These bonds have a nominal value of 37 billion euros, which the ECB has had the right to buy back from the 10th of March.
Reports suggest that the ECB is considering paying 9 billion euros towards these bonds, at a first phase. This in turn means that Greek banks may see profits of about 1 billion euros, which will be a major boost in their effort to recover.
Friday’s session in the Athens Stock Exchange saw the banking sector grow by 18.92%, with Piraeus Bank seeing its stock go up by 27.07% (0.23 euros), the National Bank by 18.83% (0.265 euros), Eurobank by 18.67% (0.750 euros) and Alpha Bank by 15.70% (1.99 euros).
