OPAP

The persisting gloomy outlook sent Greek stocks south for a tenth straight session on Friday.

The strong pressure on stocks, which doesn’t look like abating anytime soon, is considered a combined result of geopolitical tensions, uncertainty over banks in view of the ECB stress tests and the upcoming announcement of listed firms’ first-half results, due by the end of the month.

The slump continued for the majority of stocks on the Greek bourse on Wednesday as banks kept dragging on the market, as has been the case over the last few weeks. The increased turnover suggests that sellers mean business and will likely persist until foreign portfolios are convinced that bank stock prices are low enough to buy back in again.

Greece's betting monopoly OPAP has begun a voluntary redundancy scheme for about three-quarters of its staff to cut costs, one of its biggest unions said on Thursday.

A third day of losses for most stocks on the Greek bourse has taken the benchmark index to its lowest point of the last 17 sessions, with banks again leading the way for sellers.

Rising stocks outnumbered those heading south on the local bourse on Thursday while the benchmark ended up virtually unchanged as early losses were offset by gains, mostly secured by outperforming mid-caps, as well as the OPAP gaming company, which is expected to profit on the World Cup that just started in Brazil.

Declines on most European markets and Tuesday’s International Monetary Fund report demanding measures to plug Greece’s fiscal gap for 2015-16 resulted in significant losses for most stocks during most of Wednesday’s bourse session, although certain blue chips reacted in the last hour of trading and contained the benchmark drop to 1.18 percent.

OPAP, one of Europe’s biggest betting firms, plans to launch long-awaited online sports betting before the start of the soccer World Cup in June, its CEO said on Thursday, in a bid to capitalize on the popular event.

By Vangelis Mandravelis

OPAP subsidiary Ellinika Lachia SA announced on Wednesday the instant lottery’s return to the Greek market under the name “Scratch.”

The new scratch cards, which were launched at the start of May, appear to constitute a priority for OPAP’s Czech management and the flagship of Ellinika Lachia regarding sales strategy.

The thumbs-up given by Moody’s to Greek banks, coupled with the expected return of Eurobank and Viohalco to the blue-chip index ended the decline of Greek stocks with a late rally that gave the benchmark marginal gains on Tuesday.

The Greek bourse’s main index endured minor losses in Monday’s session in relatively thin trading, as stocks showed a mixed picture.