Titan Cement

The leaked details of a European Stability Mechanism paper documenting short-term measures to ease Greece's national debt, as well as news of progress in the bailout review talks, particularly on the labor relations front, led most Greek stocks to significant gains on Wednesday, in line with those registered on Wall Street and elsewhere in Europe, and improvements in oil rates.

Fears of complications in Greece's second bailout review and further tremors in the runup to the US elections weighed on the majority of Greek stocks on Tuesday, with the benchmark giving up close to 1.5 percent.

International market euphoria over the rise of oil prices to a year-high, coupled with domestic certainty over the disbursement of the long-overdue bailout sub-tranche brought gains of over 1 percent to the Greek bourse's benchmark on Monday.

The Bank of Japan's surprise decision to keep interest rates unchanged against expectations for a drop deeper into negative territory bolstered most European bourses on Wednesday before interest turned toward the Fed verdict, but the Greek stock market felt little of that positive effect.

As investors continued to await the conclusion of the government's negotiations with the country's creditors, profit taking dominated Monday's session at the Greek bourse, on the heels of last week's mini-rally that saw the benchmark clear 600 points. The first hour of trading resulted in gains, but the majority of stocks sank into negative territory for the rest of the day.

The slightly increased chances of an agreement between Athens and Greece's lenders, thanks to Eurostat figures and politicians' statements, was reflected in Tuesday's session at the local bourse, with moderate gains for the majority of stocks.

Expectations that the long and arduous negotiations between the Greek government and the country?s creditors may be nearing completion sent Greek stocks soaring on Wednesday, with the market?s benchmark finally passing 850 points and trading volume getting close to 100 million euros.

The European Central Bank?s decision not to accept Greek bonds as collateral for local lenders to gain access to liquidity as of next Wednesday, along with the Greek and German finance ministers? meeting, weighed heavily on the Athens bourse on Thursday. However the 9 percent drop at the start of the session had been reduced to just 3.37 percent by the end.

The momentum created at the Greek bourse on Thursday by the European Central Bank decisions to bolster growth in the eurozone continued on Friday, taking the benchmark close to 1,200 points at the end of a fourth consecutive week of gains. News of a ceasefire in Ukraine also helped.

The local benchmark’s third day of gains on Thursday showed that traders are optimistic Sunday’s elections will not have a significant impact on the country’s financial life, while some expect Fitch to upgrade Greece’s rating on Friday.