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Roundup: Greek stock market bounces back amid debt relief proposal clarification

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Greek stock market bounced back on Tuesday after hitting a three-year low last week, as the newly elected radical left SYRIZA-led government started to clarify its proposal for a further relief of Greece's sovereign debt.

The Athens Stock Exchange General Index closed at 840.57 points, up from 755.42 points on Monday, increasing by 11.27 percent. The value of transactions on Tuesday stood at 219 million euros (252 million U.S. dollars).

The accumulated gains of the general index reached 16.43 percent in the last two sessions this week, erasing last week's losses which had reached 14.1 percent amidst nervousness over the new government's economic program.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who led SYRIZA to victory on the Jan. 25 general elections, was due to present the government's policy program to the parliament in coming days.

However, in a statement to a British financial newspaper this week, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis revealed that the new government does not intend to push for a "haircut" of the Greek debt, risking a confrontation with international creditors who do not welcome the idea.

Athens would rather suggest alternative options, such as a debt swap for growth-linked bonds, according to the latest indications.

Bank shares posted remarkable gains of up to 20 percent on Tuesday. Last week, when the benchmark index had dropped to a three-year low at 711.13 points, the bank index was most affected, dropping by 27 percent. Endit