The main index of the Athens stock exchange shot up 4.43 percent to 769.63 points in midday trading on hopes that Greece will make progress towards a deal to unlock sorely-needed bailout funds.

Eurozone finance ministers are meeting Friday in the Latvian capital Riga, but a senior EU official said there had so far been insufficient progress to unlock 7.2 billion euros ($7.8 billion) in remaining EU-IMF bailout funds that Greece needs to avoid a default and possible messy exit from the euro.