OPAP

Athinon Avenue gave up 7.36% over the month of January after another day of losses on Friday for the benchmark and the majority of stocks. The prospect of tighter restrictions and concerns over when the economy will start to recover continued to put pressure on prices.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market ended the week at its lowest level since Christmas, with traders remaining reserved about the course of the economy as the pandemic continues to break one record after another internationally.

Thursday's bourse session was relatively quiet ahead of Friday's triple witching, with some selective profit-taking among blue chips. Stocks were split between winners and losers, with banks showing some significant fluctuations before settling for moderate losses.

The Greek bourse benchmark's 14-session rising streak - the first this century - came to an end on Thursday, with significant losses for the majority of stocks, although not all blue chips followed the bank stocks on their steep decline. At any rate, the benchmark demonstrated that it is not yet ready to conquer the 800-point mark.

The international buying spree that on Tuesday took the Dow Jones over 30,000 points in New York contributed to the Greek bourse's main index holding its ground and putting some distance between it and the 700-point mark, despite the profit-taking recorded by most bank stocks.

Thursday's session on the Athens Stock Exchange was even more subdued than recent days, if that is possible.

In the end, the general index, which had been showing mild losses throughout, tipped over into positive territory, closing at 637.27 points, a gain of 0.36%. Late gains in OTE Telecom were the main reason.

Turnover was €23.61 million on volume of 16,373,894 shares.

OPAP, Europe's fourth-biggest betting business, reported a 38% drop in first-quarter profit on Wednesday due to the closure of outlets during the coronavirus lockdown in Greece and Cyprus.

Net profit in the January to March period stood at 35.5 million euros ($40.3 million), down from 57.2 million in the same period a year before.

Bank stocks led the Greek bourse to a day of healthy gains, with the benchmark climbing above the 610-point mark, although daily turnover still left much to be desired. After Thursday's European Union summit, traders are anticipating Friday's verdict on the Greek economy by Standard & Poor's and DBRS Morningstar.

The dramatic slide in oil rates and some negative corporate developments, including QCM's report on Greek Nasdaq-listed firm Akazoo, saw local stocks heading south at the beginning of the week, with the credit sector losing more than 10 percent in a day.

OPAP, Europe's fourth largest gaming company, has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in the fast-growing Greek and Cypriot business of online bookmaker Stoiximan, it said on Tuesday.
OPAP, which already holds a 36.8 percent stake in Stoiximan's online operations in Portugal, Romania and Germany, has agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in Stoiximan's Greek and Cypriot operations.