* The optimism is caused by the hope that the foreign aid agreement will be signed

* The negotiations, postponed until Wednesday

Europe's ugly duckling, Greece, was last month's surprise, as its stock market posted the biggest gain on the continent (+17%), according to the report of the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE).

Even more surprising, banks were the stars of the month, with the index which tracks the sector gaining 83%.

It needs to be said however, that the gains come after the market fell over 50% in 2011.

It seems that investors, in particular the Greeks, who were net buyers in January, had high hopes for a positive outcome of the negotiations between the authorities in Athens and the international institutions on the conclusion of a new agreement of foreign financing.

Foreign investors were net sellers in January, with net capital outflows of 34.99 million Euros.

Some analysts are saying that even if Greece succeeded in avoiding a disorderly default, the recent rise of its stock market is somewhat exaggerated. Others consider that the gains of the bank stocks which was sparked by the agreement on the terms for the recapitalization of the (ed. note: following the losses incurred in after the haircut of the Greek sovereign debt they held - with the measure being part of the financing agreement), which seems to favor a solution which would not involve their nationalization.

Nicolae Gherguş, the president of "Confident Invest", explained: "In the context of the sovereign debt crisis, the bank stocks had fallen last year.

In January we saw a correction, amid the optimism concerning the resolution of the Greek problem and the European support for the Greek government", Gherguş says, and went on to say:

"Greece had the biggest rise in January, because it had also had the biggest drop.