athens exchange

The reserved optimism generated by the softening of the Eurogroup's stance toward Athens in response to the letter from the Finance Ministry buoyed the majority of stocks higher on Tuesday in the first session after the Christmas break, although trading volume remained at a very low level.

The Greek bourse was in a holiday mood on Friday, with trading action being particularly reduced and stocks having a mixed picture at the end of the session.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 630.28 points, shedding 0.25 percent from Thursday's 631.85 points. On a weekly basis it declined 1.46 percent.

Some investors cashed in Wednesday's gains on Thursday, but the benchmark remained above the 630-point mark.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 631.85 points, shedding 1.12 percent from Wednesday's 638.99 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 0.99 percent to close at 1,695.79 points, while banks fell 3.85 percent and small-caps slumped 9.94 percent.

Despite the fog hanging over the negotiations between the government and the country's creditors, investors threw caution to the wind on Wednesday and drove the Greek bourse benchmark closer to the 640-point mark. The robust performance of bank stocks pointed to traders betting on a positive outcome both for the Greek bailout review and Italy's banking crisis.

All in all it was a quiet session at the Greek bourse on Tuesday, as it seems quite a few investors decided to stay away and wait for news from the Euro Working Group. Most stocks posted small losses but the benchmark rose a tad after the closing auctions.

After Friday's unexpected gains, Greek stocks conceded some ground on Monday, with banks giving up the most. However, losses were contained significantly during the closing auctions, with Coca-Cola HBC, the market's biggest company by capitalization, posting a remarkable recovery in the last 15 minutes of trading.

In marked contrast to the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Greece's second bailout review, local stocks soared in the latter part of Friday's session, as investors put their money on a thaw in relations between the government and its creditors.

The decision by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to freeze short-term measures to ease Greece's debt also froze buying interest in the local market, leading to losses for the majority of stocks on Wednesday, which may well continue into Thursday's session.

The Greek bourse began the week with mixed results at the end of the session as investors await the resumption of the bailout review. Stocks were split between winners and losers, but the benchmark was up at the close, having recovered all the day's losses in the closing auctions.

The Greek bourse benchmark finally cleared the 650-point level on Tuesday to record a new seven-month high, as the certainty of Greece finally meeting all the bailout review requirements pushed stock prices higher at the end of the session.