Stocks jump on Athens bourse, led by banks

Greek stocks rebounded on the Athens Exchange on Wednesday, led by a strong interest in banking shares.

The ATHEX general index rallied 2.02 percent to end at 719.46 points, having however dropped to an intraday low of 700.27 points. Turnover came to 39.998 million euros.

The large-cap FTSE-25 index rose 1.94 percent and mid-caps advanced 1.56 percent.

Alpha Bank (6.41 pct), Eurobank (6.30 pct) and Piraeus Bank (4.88 pct) scored the biggest jump among blue chips, while GEK-TERNA (-2.82 pct) and Jumbo (-2.16 pct) suffered the largest losses.

Among sectors, banks (5.17 pct), commerce (3.62 pct) and telecommunications (3.60 pct) scored gains, while personal products (-1.20 pct) and construction (-0.68 pct) had the biggest losses.