Sarantis

The rising sequence of 11 weeks came to an emphatic end on Friday, with the Greek bourse benchmark this week losing a significant portion of the ground gained over the last month. This was topped by a strong decline on the day, amounting to almost 2.5 percentage points, driven by international concern over banks, which also affected the local credit sector's prospects.

The US Fed and European Central Bank rate hikes went largely according to expectations, so eurozone stock markets, including Greece's, proceeded smoothly on Thursday with sessions of mild gains.

Banks supported the fresh increase of the Greek bourse benchmark to another eight-year high on Wednesday, as the trend of the local market remains upward in spite of the odd case of cashing in the significant gains of the last few weeks. Some more extensive profit-taking appears overdue, but buyers continue to have reasons for raising stock prices.

The Greek bourse benchmark's third effort to clear the 1,000-point bar proved successful at Thursday's closing, as the local market has finally captured the milestone that had proved elusive for more than eight years. The last time Athinon Avenue's main index had four digits was in December 2014 - i.e.

Unfazed by political developments in Parliament, the Greek stock market held its ground on Wednesday after its benchmark temporarily climbed above 1,000 points again. Traders engaged selectively in some profit taking while many investors are expecting the issue of corporate results that begins on Thursday, as well as Friday's credit rating report on Greece by Fitch.

The main index at Athinon Avenue came off its eight-year peak on Thursday with a significant drop that bore the marks of profit-taking, but with a significant trading volume that showed interest remains considerable in the local bourse. This was only the second session of decline for the benchmark of the local stock market since the start of the year.

The constant march higher of Greek stocks continued on Wednesday, on a considerably increased turnover thanks to a number of business deals that not only increased the trading volume but also further fed the optimism among investors for medium-term gains. More than half of the day's turnover took place during the closing auctions.

Wednesday saw the benchmark of the Greek stock market register a new 11-month high on moderate daily gains that changed the earlier picture of negligible losses in a session of rather shallow trade at Athinon Avenue. 

The main index was able to turn the tables in the closing auctions, with rising stocks narrowly edging out the losers.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market may have seen its rising streak snap on Tuesday, but that was only marginally, as its decline was negligible and the overall course appears unchanged, despite the minor profit taking on the day. The maintenance of turnover at a relatively high level also bodes well for the next few sessions.

Energy stocks led the Greek stock market's benchmark to new eight-month highs on Tuesday. The Athens bourse confirmed the upward trajectory of the last couple of weeks with a session that saw better turnover and a wider variety of options for traders to implement purchases.