Mytilineos

Global concerns over the expansion of China's coronavirus have taken a toll on international markets, with the Greek bourse again being no exception. Thursday's was the fourth consecutive session of losses, which so far this week have added up to 1.6 billion euros in capitalization.

The benchmark of the Greek bourse came off last Friday's five-year highs on Monday as the market appeared to be keeping some cash aside for the upcoming 15-year Greek government bond issue. International pressure on stocks from the Chinese coronavirus played a part too, while the Greek economy's upgrade by Fitch had already been priced in last week.

Many investors opted to sit out Thursday's trading session at Athinon Avenue ahead of Friday night's verdict by Fitch on Greece's rating and outlook, with sellers putting an end to the benchmark's seven-session rising streak.

The fifth consecutive session of moderate growth for the Greek bourse saw the benchmark advance to a new five-year high, as it climbed to levels unseen since December 2014.

Friday's bourse session was much like Thursday's, with a mild increase for the majority of stocks as the benchmark climbed to levels unseen since February 2015. This sedate growth is slowly convincing observers that the main index may well capture the 1,000-point level in the coming months.

The stocks of former state companies gave the main index of the Greek bourse a major push on Tuesday while the banks' index stayed put. The benchmark rebounded within range of the 900-point level, with daily turnover rising above 100 million euros.

Investor interest in the Greek state's UltraFast BroadBand (UFBB) project illustrates the swing toward infrastructure: A total of 10 investors have expressed non-binding interest in the project, including one from abroad. The latter is Oman Fiber Optic (OFO), which is based in Muscat, Oman.

October was another month of growth for the main index of the Greek bourse, leading to gains of 1.63 percent. Almost half of that growth came through Thursday's advance, which was once again led by bank stocks. Meager though the monthly growth may seem, it has taken the benchmark's gains since the start of the year to almost 44 percent.

The closing auctions once again determined the benchmark result after another mixed session at Athinon Avenue on Wednesday. At the end of the day the main index continued its quiet advance, possibly thanks to the positive outcome of the T-bill auction too, although turnover appears to be losing steam.

Participants in the Greek stock market were on Friday waiting for Greece's sovereign credit rating to be upgraded by Standard & Poor's late in the night, not to mention the upcoming national holiday on Monday, and most stocks saw little change in thin trade. The benchmark came off the day's lows to close with minor losses.