Bourses track fresh stress on the eurozone preiphery The rally on European stock markets on Monday proved ephemeral as indices across the continent headed into negative territory hours after bourses opened. Election victory in Greece for pro-austerity party New Democracy had a short-lived effect on European markets, with the FTSE Eurofirst 300 falling 0.1 per cent to 992.07 by mid-morning. It had earlier climbed by as much as 1.2 per cent. The Athens General index rallied 5.3 per cent to 589.87, however, with banks making the biggest gains. Shares in EFG Eurobank rallied 15.7 per cent to €0.81, while National Bank of Gre ece climbed 13.3 per cent to €0.40. Piraeus Bank shares rose 12.4 per cent to €0.33 and Alpha Bank rallied 7.4 per cent to €1.45. Equity analysts at JPMorgan argued that the Greek election results were not a game changer, while Citi's economic team said the probability of a Greek exit from the eurozone remained between 50 per cent and 75 per cent over the next year and a half. That fear spread to the eurozone periphery, where Spanish and Italian indices fell into the red. In Madrid, the Ibex 35 index slumped 1.9 per cent to 6,593.6 and in Milan the FTSE MIB index fell 1.5 per cent to 13,190.22. Bankia helped to drag the Spanish benchmark index down, as shares in the part-nationalised bank slumped 5 per cent to €0.87. Italian bancassurer Mediolanum led falls on Italy's main index, sliding 3 per cent to €2.42. Claudia Panseri, head of European equity strategy at Société Générale said the market reaction was unsurprising, given "people have been waiting for three years for a solution. Whether or not there is contagion will depend on the level of interest rates on sovereign debt in Spain and Italy. As long as bond yields stay about 6 per cent in both countries, the risk of contagion is very high," she added. Meanwhile, in Frankfurt the Xetra Dax index rose 0.6 per cent to 6,264.27, boosted by gains in Volkswagen . Shares in the carmaker added 1.4 per cent to €125.40. In Paris, where the Socialist government won a majority in a final round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, the CAC 40 index was largely flat at 3,088.20. EDF was the best performer on the index. Shares in the French power generator rallied 2.7 per cent to €16.67.