Mon Feb 16, 2015 5:23am EST
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By John Geddie and Sudip Kar-Gupta
LONDON Feb 16 (Reuters) - Greek bond yields hovered at pre-election levels and stocks held on to their recent gains on Monday on cautious optimism that Athens would reach a new debt deal with its euro zone partners at talks later in the day.
The euro also edged up on hopes that the shared-currency bloc's finance ministers can find common ground at the talks which begin at 1400 GMT.
The main Athens' bourse was just off a two-month high hit on Friday, while the country's borrowing costs were unchanged from before the vote in January that propelled its new anti-austerity government to power.
The market's confidence that an agreement between Greece and its euro zone creditors can be brokered appeared at odds with the message from many of the key players involved, however.
German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Monday echoed earlier comments from Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Eurogroup president and chair of the meeting, saying he was not sure any deal could be reached on Monday.
The stakes are certainly high.
With Greece's current bailout due to expire on Feb 28, the European Central Bank may have little choice but to halt emergency funding for Greek banks - a move that could see Athens barrel out of the currency bloc.
"I'm not too worried for now. I don't think that Germany can afford to let Greece leave the euro zone, and the Greeks themselves will have to compromise a little bit. So I think we'll reach a half-way house compromise," said Clairinvest fund manager Ion-Marc Valahu.
Economists surveyed by Reuters last week gave a one-in-four chance of Greece leaving the currency area in 2015. This was the highest probability collected by Reuters polls - even those taken during the depths of the debt crisis between 2011-2012.
But a relative calm swept across markets. Ten-year bond yields edged up 25 bps to 9.77 percent, just above a two week low hit on Friday, while yields on other low-rated debt fell.
Portugal's 10-year yields were down 3 bps at 2.36 percent , while Spain and Italy's were down 1 bps at 1.57 and 1.62 percent, respectively. Yields on German bonds - which tend to fall in times of stress - were up 1 bps at 0.35 percent.
"Even though the Greek tragedy has been dominating newspaper headlines of late, causing many Cassandras to come forward and forecast the worst, financial-market investors have been looking decidedly relaxed," said DZ Bank analyst Christian Lenk.
Greece's benchmark stock index slipped back around 4 percent, a modest move given it fell as much as 9 percent in the days after January's election. It rose 5.6 percent on Friday.
The focus of investor concerns remain on the deposit outflows in Greek banks. The Athens Stock Exchange FTSE Banks Index dropped nearly 8 percent on Monday, with the ECB set to review the limits on the emergency assistance it approves for those banks on Wednesday. (Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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