Public Power Corporation

Greece's biggest power utility Public Power Corporation (PPC) on Thursday posted a net loss of 1.68 billion euros for 2019 after it wrote down the value of its coal-fired plants.
PPC, which is 51 percent state-owned and plans to switch off all but one of its coal-fired plants by 2023, said the figure compared with a net loss of 903.8 million euros in 2018.

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.

The pendulum at Athinon Avenue swung deep into the red on Wednesday, along with most other eurozone market, while traders had one eye fixed on the auction of the new seven-year bond. Thursday's session will be the last before the Easter holidays.

Greek government expert and spokesman Sotiris Tsiodras on Monday confirmed that the death toll from Covid-19 in Greece has risen to 43 at regular press briefing on Monday, adding that new reported infections came to 56, down from Sunday's 95.

The failure of Thursday's European Union summit to reach an agreement on the issue of extraordinary bonds, dubbed "corona bonds," and the temptation to cash in gains recorded on Tuesday and Thursday led the benchmark of the Greek bourse back down to the 550-point level on Friday.

The European Central Bank decision to lift its 33 percent limit on euro area government bond purchases gave Greek stocks a second consecutive day of healthy gains on Thursday. The bourse saw its capitalization grow by 2.5 billion euros over those two sessions, with credit sector stocks playing a major role in that advance.

The reserved optimism of Greek epidemiologists about the course of Covid-19 in Greece over the last three days was reflected in stock prices on Tuesday, as confidence in the quickly taken, firm measures and the fiscal easing decided across the European Union have led to some relief for battered bourses, including Athinon Avenue.

The electricity market is trying to express solidarity with companies and individuals suffering from the effects of the coronavirus epidemic, with Public Power Corporation and Elpedison announcing measures in a bid to make life easier for their customers and heeding the call to that effect by Energy Minister Kostis Hatzidakis.

Monday's session at the Greek bourse was short and sour for stocks. The start was delayed by over four hours due to technical problems in data transmission, and the benchmark suffered major losses in the three-and-a-half hours of trade (an hour's extension was granted), with banks once again enduring most of the pressure.

The decision by the European Central Bank to include Greece in an emergency bond-buying program gave Greek securities a much-needed boost on Thursday, with sovereign bond yields tumbling and stocks jumping at Athinon Avenue. Public Power Corporation closed almost at its limit-up, while banks struggled to keep up with the other blue chips.