Athens stock market soars 7.15% on hopes of accord

The Athens stock market surged over seven percent at opening Monday on rising hopes of a bailout accord between Greece and its international creditors.

At 0745 GMT the ATHEX Composite index jumped 7.15 percent to 736.46 points, as traders took heart that new proposals by Greece might break deadlocked negotiations to free up 7.2 billion euros ($8.1 billion) in bailout funds.

Greece urgently needs the money to honour around 1.5 billion euros in repayments to the International Monetary Fund by June 30.

Athens' new reform and budget proposals will be examined later Monday during an emergency summit of the 19 eurozone heads of state or government, who are seeking an agreement to prevent a Greek default or exit from the euro.

Officials in Europe have applauded the quality work that went into the new proposals, further lifting optimism in stock markets across Europe that an eleventh-hour accord may be near after five months of fractious negotiations.

Athens must pay the IMF around 1.5 billion euros by June 30, ahead of several other heavy reimbursements to creditors later this summer.