Sarantis

Bank stocks continued their advance at Athinon Avenue on Wednesday, carrying the market's benchmark to a new two-month high, although the low turnover pointed to traders waiting to see how the pandemic will evolve. Stocks were split down the middle between winners and losers.

The slowdown in the onslaught of the coronavirus in Greece and the rest of Europe, according to the statistics of the last few days, and the hopes for a rebound at the oversold Greek market sent stocks soaring at Athinon Avenue on Monday by the highest daily rate recorded since 2015.

The Greek stock market continued to reap the benefits from the European Central Bank's move to include Greece in its emergency bond-buying program for a second day on Friday, but unlike on Thursday, banks were participating in force. Oil companies led the way, while mid- and small-caps appeared more reserved. There was a marked improvement in turnover.

Tuesday's recovery proved short-lived for the Athens bourse, as the slump on Wall Street later on the same day and the discovery of the first case of coronavirus in Greece on Wednesday led Greek stocks to new six-month lows. The benchmark even dropped below the 800-point mark during yesterday's session, before containing its losses somewhat.

Greek stocks on Tuesday reclaimed some of the ground lost in Monday's 8.3 percent slump, on very encouraging trading volume, with banks jumping by over 5 percent to cover almost half of the previous day's losses. 

After a particularly quiet session on the Greek bourse, with the lowest turnover of the last four-and-a-half months, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue ended its four-day rising streak on Monday with a slight decline, mainly due to the bank losses.

The Greek stock market followed the trend set by most eurozone bourses and continued its southbound course at the start of the week. This was despite the drop of the benchmark 10-year bond's yield close to 1 percent.

The huge investor interest in the Greek 15-year bond issued on Tuesday distracted traders from the Athens stock market, which saw early gains turn into losses toward the end of the session. After two days of contraction, stock prices are likely to rebound from Wednesday.

The fifth consecutive session of moderate growth for the Greek bourse saw the benchmark advance to a new five-year high, as it climbed to levels unseen since December 2014.

The banks index at Athinon Avenue staged a 2.74 percent rebound on Thursday, leading the benchmark of the Greek bourse back up to 926 points on turnover of more than 100 million euros.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 926.06 points, adding 1.30 percent to Wednesday's 914.17 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 1.22 percent to 2,308.07 points.