athens exchange

The Greek stock market benchmark edged marginally higher again on Thursday, but the increase in turnover did not translate into a significant advance for blue chips, as their index ended up in the red. Gains for small-caps, on the other hand, led to winners surpassing the losers at the end of the session.

The Greek bourse had another mixed day on Tuesday, with the market awaiting feedback from Brussels regarding the draft budget Athens has submitted, but in the end all indexes closed in the black thanks to a number of stocks posting firm gains.

The banks index at Athinon Avenue enjoyed a second consecutive day of gains in excess of 4 percent on Friday, building not only on the advance of the Heracles plan for the securitization of bad loans, but also on the upward momentum observed in foreign stock markets. That also led to the benchmark attaining growth just shy of 2 percent.

The stock market's positive reaction to the European Commission's approval of the state's bad-loan reduction plan boosted bank stocks and helped the benchmark climb further during trading on Thursday at Athinon Avenue.

The treasury bill issue that recorded a negative yield for the first time in Greece's history dominated trading at the local stock market on Wednesday, with investors beginning to anticipate a credit rating upgrade for Greece coming sooner rather than later.

The Athens bourse played second fiddle to the Greek bond market on Tuesday, but buyers returned when the benchmark hit a low of 818 points - after the bond's book closed - and by the closing bell the main index's losses had halved.

The main index of the Greek stock market continued to slide for a fourth consecutive day on Thursday, though not as dramatically as Wednesday's 3 percent drop. The morning's brief reaction to three days of losses gave way to another selling spree later in the day, leading the benchmark close to the 820-point mark.

Stocks continued to decline on Tuesday at Athinon Avenue, as pressure grew, mainly on bank stocks, before easing during the closing auctions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 861.50 points, shedding 0.80 percent from Monday's 868.42 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 0.79 percent to 2,139.95 points, while small-caps increased 0.22 percent.

September ended with marginal monthly gains (0.04 percent) for the benchmark of the Greek stock market, which eased on Monday due to pressures mainly on non-bank blue chips. Following the conclusion of the publication of listed firms' first-half results, it has become evident that the improvement has only been moderate, despite investors' enthusiasm after late May.

While the Greek stock benchmark finished Friday's session firmly in the black thanks to an upward swing toward the end of trade, it was not enough to offset all the week's losses. Observers say the market is awaiting some significant business deals that are still in the early stages.