ElvalHalcor

The steady recovery of prices at the Greek bourse noted last week did not continue on Monday, as Athinon Avenue experienced a small decline on rather low daily turnover.

The Greek stock market continued to rise, in anticipation of the concession of a 12% state stake in National Bank early next week, with the benchmark climbing to a new eight-week high, albeit with the lowest turnover of the last five sessions on Wednesday. 

The question now is whether Athinon Avenue can sustain the levels it has just risen to, over the next few days at least.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market had to drop close to the 1,400-point mark on Thursday to rebound on Friday, and it did so quite convincingly.

The week started on the right foot at the Athens Stock Exchange, with the market recovering some important ground from last Monday's 6.27% mini-crash and closing just shy of 1,400 points.

The rebound, which had started last Tuesday, had stalled on Thursday and Friday.

The Athens Stock Exchange resumed its decline Thursday after a two-session rebound from Monday's mini-crash.

In this, it followed global markets, as investors wonder whether the stock sell-off will continue.

But good news from the US, in the form of better-than-expected unemployment figures, helped stem the fall a little before the ATHEX's closing.

The Greek stock market returned from its five-day holiday with a jump in prices that sent the benchmark to a new 13-year high on Wednesday, on significantly increased turnover too. Led by the blue chips of the Viohalco group, Cenergy and the National Bank of Greece (NBG), Athinon Avenue has risen to such heights as to consider the benchmark of 1,500 points for its main index.

The Athens bourse had a mixed session on Wednesday, with the benchmark and the blue chips index ending the day with gains, while banks and the majority of stocks ended up in the red. The mood changed, and with it the color of the main index, after the release of the US inflation data in March. This third rising session for the bourse also showed a notable rise in turnover.

The Greek stock market rebounded on Monday, following last week's decline, with most stocks securing significant gains, led by banks.

As a result the benchmark regained the 1,400-point level, ending the day not far from the session's high. The report by the Bank of Greece, which undercut the government's growth estimate, did not seem to affect the mood of the market.

February ended at the stock market with an impressive session, that extended the month's gains for the benchmark and doubled the daily turnover, due to yet another stock rebalancing. That was the fourth consecutive month of growth for the main index, which has augmented 4.19% since end-January.

A rather subdued session at the Greek stock market on Monday saw most stocks yield ground for a second day in a row on the lowest daily trading of the last 11 sessions. Early gains gave way to some profit-taking by traders who believe the market has been overbought over the last few weeks, when the benchmark had climbed to its highest point since 2011.