Eurobank

By Evgenia Tzortzi

Greek banks are expected to request 6.1 billion euros from the European Central Bank’s temporary liquidity offer program for small and medium-sized enterprises that is set to launch on Thursday.

Exactly 15 years after the benchmark of the local bourse reached its all-time peak, 6,484.38 points, the Greek stock market staged a rebound on Wednesday after four days of decline, while turnover exceeded 100 million euros.

The demotion of the local bourse from developed to emerging market status by Standard & Poor’s had an instant impact on Greek stocks on Tuesday, resulting in the benchmark’s biggest drop in 26 sessions on a day when most international markets headed south. Turnover however rose to its highest level in the last five sessions.

Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth biggest lender, opened a voluntary redundancy offer on Monday with a view to cutting 15 percent of its workforce to cut costs under a restructuring plan approved by the EU Commission, an official at the bank said on Monday.

Despite talk that Greece’s credit rating is set for an upgrade by Standard & Poor’s, along with estimates that the local credit sector won’t face any additional requirements following the stress tests, the local stock market sustained significant losses on Tuesday, with banks being the worst hit.

The Greek bourse had an uneventful start to the week, as its benchmark posted negligible losses, the blue chip index remained unchanged and turnover was almost half the amount seen in Friday's trade.

News of the rate cut by the European Central Bank gave Greek stocks a boost on Thursday, with banks benefiting the most, while turnover continued to grow, rising above the 100-million-euro mark.

The Greek bourse’s four-session declining streak came to an end on Wednesday as news of a truce in Ukraine and the prospect of today’s European Central Bank statements helped to buoy up the main index, although declining stocks outnumbered the gainers again. Turnover also continued to rise.

The European Central Bank’s landmark review of eurozone banks will have to ask lenders to raise an additional 51 billion euros to be credible with markets, a Goldman Sachs survey of large institutional investors has found.

Greece’s third-largest lender by assets, Eurobank, reported a 301-million-euro loss in the second quarter as loan-loss provisions continued to weigh on its bottom line.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting the bank to post a loss of 238 million euros on average.