GEK Terna

Wednesday's results of the tender for the sale of the coal-fired electricity units of Public Power Corporation at Megalopoli and Meliti confirmed estimates saying that lignite is not at all attractive as a fuel form any longer.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market closed at the day's low on Wednesday but still managed to hold on to a sliver of gains in the face of the blue chip index's marginal slide as mid-caps propped up the market. Turnover was the highest so far this week.

The anticipated reduction of Piraeus Bank's capital adequacy requirements as set by the European Central Bank served on Monday to boost the bank stock that has suffered the most in recent months - and with it the rest of the bourse - although trading volume was again disappointingly low.

On a good day for the Greek bond market, local stocks rallied at the end of the trading session on Tuesday to notch up enough gains to send the benchmark higher. Former state companies were at the focus of buying interest.

The GEK Terna construction group has landed another significant contract, as it has undertaken the construction of the new Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia, in a consortium with Vinci.

This is a contract worth 262 million euros, and the consortium of Vinci (with a 51 percent stake) and GEK Terna (with 49 percent) will have five years to implement the project.

The start of the new year on the Greek stock market gave traders little to cheer about, with the majority of stocks ending on the losing side and turnover failing even to make the 20-million-euro level, as the Athens bourse appeared to affected by the downbeat mood prevailing across most of Europe.

A year of losses ended on Monday at the Greek bourse on a high note, as the benchmark advanced by almost 10 points albeit on a very low turnover. However this has only marginally contained the loss of some 9 billion euros from the local market's capitalization in the course of 2018, when listed banks saw their value cut in half.

The decline on the Greek bourse that began last Friday continued on Wednesday while turnover remained low. Athinon Avenue appears to be heading in a whole other direction to the rest of the eurozone, which saw markets recover after the agreement between Brussels and Rome on the Italian budget.

Greek stocks lost all the gains registered earlier in the day and then some, completing a sixth consecutive southbound session for the benchmark at Athinon Avenue on Tuesday.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market posted its biggest daily rise in two-and-a-half years on Monday, riding on a wave of international relief resulting from the truce in the Sino-American trade war while dismissing any concern about the rebalancing of the MSCI index.