Quest Holdings

Despite the disappointment from MSCI's failure to include Athinon Avenue in its "watch list" for upgrading to "developed markets," and despite the drop of the banks index, the benchmark of the Greek bourse ended Friday with small gains, adding to the weekly rise it has managed ahead of the long weekend.

Despite the rather strong start to Wednesday's bourse session, stocks had to settle for small gains by closing, since the buyers appeared to run out of steam as the day went by at Athinon Avenue.

The Greek bourse recovered on Monday from its week of losses to show some healthy gains for the majority of stocks and the benchmark at Athinon Avenue on a day with significantly reduced turnover, the lowest in a week. The question now is whether this rebound can be sustained, as the summer with the biggest corporate dividends in a decade has started.

The decline of stocks continued on Wednesday at the Greek bourse, with the benchmark yielding significant ground as its drop accelerated and it closed at the lowest point of the day. It has also fallen to its lowest point in over a month. The announcement of the takeover of insurance company Europe Asfalistiki by Intracom led to a decline in the latter's price. 

The Greek stock market opened the new week with a moderate advance for its main index that was mostly to be attributed to the growth of bank stock prices. On the contrary, the majority of stocks and the mid-cap index closed with a decline despite the very positive start to the day. Turnover was even lower than Friday's owing to the bank holiday in the US and the UK.

Despite the drop of the blue chip index, the banks index, mid-caps, turnover and the majority of stocks on the Greek stock market on Thursday, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue managed to remain in positive territory by the closing, ending the short streak of the previous two days. That small rise is attributed mainly to energy stocks.

Thursday gave traders a mixed session at Athinon Avenue, with the majority of stocks and the benchmark narrowly heading lower, while the blue chip index and that of banks moved up, one day after another 13-year high for the main index. The early gains gave way to moderate losses as the benchmark apparently was not yet ready to clear the 1,500-point barrier.

The moderate cashing-in of profits that followed last week's notable rise saw the main index of the Greek stock market come off its 13-year highs of last Friday and settle for contained losses upon closing on Monday. Banks reined in the decline, as did some non-banking blue chips, while turnover returned to its usual level after last week's jump.

The Greek stock market returned from its five-day holiday with a jump in prices that sent the benchmark to a new 13-year high on Wednesday, on significantly increased turnover too. Led by the blue chips of the Viohalco group, Cenergy and the National Bank of Greece (NBG), Athinon Avenue has risen to such heights as to consider the benchmark of 1,500 points for its main index.

The decline of bank stocks at Athinon Avenue on Tuesday dragged the rest of the market lower too for the day, but April closed with gains of 1.84% for the benchmark. Notably, a number of blue chips bucked the trend and notched up impressive growth on the day, pointing to the potential for a further advance in the days to come.