Piraeus

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 stock market benchmark ended lower on Monday for the first time in six trading days after a volatile session at Athinon Avenue. Still, the majority of stocks ended with gains. Unfazed by the five-year bond issue announcement, investors seemed eager to reap gains from last week's price rise.

A late rally by Greek stocks during Wednesday's closing auctions at Athinon Avenue sufficed to offset all of the session's losses, with the benchmark ending in positive territory and rising stocks outnumbering the losers by one.

The Capital Market Commission's report showing foreign funds maintaining their short positions in local bank stocks resulted in a notable decline for the credit sector at the start of the week. However, non-bank blue chips managed to push the benchmark into positive territory at the end of the session despite the bank sector slump.

The European Union's Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has issued a fine of more than 200 million euros to Greece for failing to stop a wide-scale tax fraud by Chinese criminal gangs importing ultra-cheap goods through the country's largest port of Piraeus, news portal Politico reported on Monday.

Investor confidence appears to be returning gradually to local banks, with their stocks outperforming on Tuesday on the Athens bourse and the market's benchmark climbing for a fourth consecutive day - a performance unseen since October. Persistently low turnover shows that it only takes a handful of buyers to sway the market's course.

Greek authorities have launched an investigation in cooperation with their Turkish counterparts after customs officials at Piraeus port on Monday found a large quantity of fenethylline pills - also known as the "Jihadist's" drug - in a container ship.

The vessel had docked at Piraeus on its way from Syria to Dubai.

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.

Greek stocks presented a mixed picture on Friday as Athinon Avenue closed for Christmas, with the benchmark ending lower for the sixth session in a row while the banks and mid-caps indexes posted gains for the first time in more than a week.

The outlook following Friday's session at Athinon Avenue, which traders were watching carefully to get an idea of how the market would fare in the weeks ahead, was not rosy, as the benchmark headed south. The chances of a year-end rally have therefore been ruled out, and 2018 is expected to end in negative territory.