Greek bank stocks surge on outcome of euro zone summit

Greek bank shares jumped 7% at Monday's open as investors welcomed the improved bailout terms for Greece agreed at the euro zone summit on Friday and yield spreads tightened. "Greece's economy got oxygen at the euro zone summit," said Takis Zamanis, chief trader at Beta Securities. "The favourable decisions are helping banks as the risk of the country defaulting is lowered."
"Lower default risk is leading to tighter yield spreads, which helps banks' bond portfolios," he said.
In early trading, the Athens bourse's banking index was up 6.58%, outperformumg the broader market's 3.5% advance.