Stocks in Portugal's largest listed bank Millennium bcp rise nearly 4 percent - while all other shares in Lisbon's PSI20 index are down - following a media report that Polish top lender PKO BP would be interested in buying Millennium bcp's Polish unit.
"BCP is sailing against the wind compared to the banking index and the rest of the market after the report about PKO's interest in a deal, which could bring significant proceeds and allow the bank to accelerate repayments to the state of 3 billion euros it took," says Gualter Pacheco, a trader at Go Bulling brokers in Porto.
BCP has previously denied plans to sell its Polish subsidiary and declined to provide further comment on Thursday.
Traders say BCP is also benefiting from expectations that it will soon clinch a deal to sell its Greek unit to Piraeus Bank that the two have been negotiating.
The stock is up 3.6 percent at 0.115 euros after rolling back from an earlier jump of 5.4 percent, while the broader market in Lisbon is down 1.1 percent.
Reuters messaging rm://filipe.alves.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net
