athens exchange

The third consecutive day of stock gains in the Greek bourse on Friday brought the weekly gains of the benchmark to 3.76 percent and those of the bank index to over 10 percent, as the government edged ever closer to fulfilling most of the demands of its creditors.

Stocks rallied at the Athens bourse on Thursday as the prospect of an agreement between Greece and its creditors drew nearer. The benchmark cleared 600 points and banks earned 7.13 percent.

A Morgan Stanley report that was published on Wednesday and forecast a swift end to the country's negotiations with its creditors gave a significant push to the local stock market upon its reopening after the Easter and May Day holidays. The report was particularly bullish on Greek bank stocks, whose index gained 3.01 percent on Wednesday.

After a five-day break for the Easter and May Day holidays, the Athens Exchange is set to reopen its doors for trading on Wednesday morning, with the benchmark starting the session from 583.65 points, where it closed last Thursday.

April ended with small gains for the Greek bourse benchmark and the banks index despite the minor losses recorded on Thursday. There was more trading activity than than anticipated ahead of the Easter recess and rising stocks outnumbered the losers. The market will reopen on Wednesday, May 4.

An immediate impact was seen on the Greek stock market on Wednesday after the negotiations between Athens and its creditors hit a snag on Tuesday, inflicting significant losses, mainly on bank stocks, as well as the benchmark.

The Athens stock market had a day of high volatility on Tuesday on various rumors about the outcome of the all-important talks between the government and the country's creditors, with the benchmark eventually managing to inch up just shy of 600 points, having seen prices drop considerably earlier in the day.

As investors continued to await the conclusion of the government's negotiations with the country's creditors, profit taking dominated Monday's session at the Greek bourse, on the heels of last week's mini-rally that saw the benchmark clear 600 points. The first hour of trading resulted in gains, but the majority of stocks sank into negative territory for the rest of the day.