FTSE/Athex Large Cap

The Greek bourse continued to slide on Wednesday, led by bank stocks and Public Power Corporation, with traders waiting to see how the new round of negotiations with the country's creditors goes ahead of next week's Eurogroup, as demostrated by another day of low turnover.

The public holidays in London and New York led to significantly slower trade at the start of the week at the Athens bourse, with blue chips sliding despite the majority of Greek stocks heading north.

The plans of Greece's creditors about retaining the International Monetary Fund as an observer but not a contributor of funds to the Greek bailout program, as reported in the press, sent Greek stocks tumbling on Wednesday. The drop was reinforced by the fresh hike in sovereign bond yields.

It was down, then up and then back down again for the benchmark of the Greek bourse on Tuesday, as the inconclusive Eurogroup on Monday night and the terrorist attack in Manchester took their toll on the Greek market.

The main index of the Greek stock exchange made it 12 in a row on Wednesday for the first time since its 1999 heyday, as it continued its push toward the 800-point mark. The general picture, along with the recovery of bond prices, points to a return to normality for the local market after the government's agreement with the country's creditors.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market prose for the seventh session in a row on Wednesday, on the eve of an extraordinary meeting of the Euro Working Group to discuss progress in talks on Greece's bailout review. Alpha Bank buoyed all the main indices higher while trading volume remained above 100 million euros.

The benchmark of the Athens bourse has cleared the 700-point bar for the first time since early November 2015 after a third consecutive northbound session on Wednesday, while the banks index has now offset all of the losses incurred over the course of this year. Turnover remained on a level reminiscent of the years before the capital controls were imposed.

European markets on Tuesday continued riding the wave of enthusiasm resulting from the first round of the French election on Sunday, which, combined with the resumption of the bailout review negotiations in Athens, gave Greek stocks even greater momentum. The benchmark ended a mere whisker away from the 700-point mark and the day's trading volume came to almost 80 million euros.

A positive start to the week's final session in the Athens stock market gave way to a moderate decline in the majority of stocks later in the day, extending the week's losses for the benchmark, as trading volume remained disappointingly low for one more day.

Apparently still in holiday mode, the Greek stock market had a mixed performance on Wednesday, with very thin trading, minor gains for the benchmark, robust growth for banks and a high number of losers - almost on a par with gainers. Traders appear reserved ahead of decisions on Greece expected from the International Monetary Fund.