Ellaktor

The Greek renewables market is seeing unprecedented business activity, with portfolios of hundreds of "green" megawatts changing hands.

The peaceful conclusion of the Turkish elections and of the debt limit standoff in the US allowed European stocks to recover and the Greek bourse to extend its recent gains on Monday. The benchmark at Athinon Avenue climbed to a new nine-year high and turnover was remarkable given the holiday in the US and the UK.

Unfazed by news of a German recession and a US credit default threat, the Greek stock market reverted to its upward trajectory on remarkable trading volume on Thursday, recapturing the 1,200-point level, with the help of growth in bank stocks. The universally positive first-quarter results of listed companies also contributed to the price growth.

The main index at the Greek bourse slid back below the 1,200-point level it had captured this week, as on Wednesday it gave up some of the ground earned during Monday's huge rise. 

Banks were at the center of the market's profit-taking, though many mid-caps resisted the pressure and their index fared better than the rest of the market, losing only 0.66%.

The market's growing optimism about political stability in Greece after the elections and the favorable views on Greek banks by foreign firms contributed to a significant rebound of local stocks on Tuesday that sent the Athens benchmark to levels unseen in nearly nine years. The price rise also came with an increase in turnover, which approached 100 million euros.

Greek stocks closed their second consecutive week of growth on Friday, approaching the year's highs, though the session offered negligible gains to the main index and the rising stocks outnumbered the losers by the smallest of margins.

The closing auctions turned things around at the Greek stock market on Tuesday, at the start of the trading week, offering the benchmark marginal gains despite the majority of stocks ending up in the red. International banking concerns appeared to have minimal impact on local credit sector stocks, while construction companies led the rebound.

The banking sector shook off foreign and domestic concerns - related to the decline of US lender First Republic and the promise by main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras to nationalize National Bank of Greece if he comes to power - and swung to gains at the end of Wednesday's bourse session, leaving the benchmark with moderate gains.

Greek banks may have had a boost from Standard & Poor's ratings, but on the stock market they suffered significant losses on Tuesday that weighed heavily on the entire market. As a result, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue dropped below the 1,100-point mark, with just a handful of blue chips resisting the pressure.

The widely anticipated upgrading of Greece's outlook to "Positive" by Standard & Poor's on Friday was taken in the traders' stride in Monday's bourse session, with many of them engaging in some profit taking that focused on banks and construction companies. Turnover posted a considerable decline though.