Greek markets buoyed by government desire for cooperation

The Athens Stock Exchange noted gains of 5.6 percentage points on its general index shortly after opening on Monday (February 2) amid expectations that there will be no rupture between the government and lenders.

Some Greek bank stocks rebounded as much as 22 percent since Greece's leftist government began its drive to persuade a sceptical Europe to accept a new debt agreement.

Greece's new government on Sunday offered to produce proposals within a month for a revised debt agreement with its sceptical international partners, insisting it would not take on any more loan tranches in the meantime.

Greeks have seen poverty and hardship reach levels unmatched anywhere else in western Europe and the new government has wasted little time in making clear it intends to respect its election promises to end years of harsh austerity.

After a turbulent first week in office, the new government has made clear it wants to end the existing arrangement with the European Union, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund "troika" when its aid deadline expires on Feb. 28.

Tsipras wants to agree a bridging deal with the troika to gain breathing space while a new deal is negotiated to reduce Greece's unmanageable public debt burden of more than 175 percent of its economic output, or €320 billion

Finance Minister Yannis Varoufakis is engaged in a week of meetings with his European counterparts, paving the way for Tsipras to visit Rome and Paris, the two major capitals where his hopes for a sympathetic hearing are highest, given French and Italian calls for an easing in rigid euro zone budget austerity.

He is also due to meet European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his deputy prime minister, Yannis Dragasakis, said that meeting could be crucial to laying the basis for a deal.