Citigroup and Merrill Lynch have increased the size of the accelerated sale of shares in National Bank of Greece by 10% to €488.1m ($577m), and is being taken as a sign of growing confidence in forthcoming Greek privatisations.

The National Bank of Greece sale increased in size from 25.5 million to 28.05 million shares, as the Greek government disposed of an 11% stake. Bankers close to the deal said this was due to strong, high-quality demand coming into the book during the last two hours of bookbuilding on Wednesday. Market sources said the book closed at around 5pm UK time.