Athens Exchange

For a second day in a row the Greek bourse benchmark continued its recovery without the support of bank stocks on Wednesday, although mid-session gains had shrunk by the end of what was a fairly slow day.

After six straight days of losses Greek stocks rebounded on Tuesday with non-banking blue chips showing the way for the rest of the market on rather satisfactory turnover. The rest of the week will reveal whether this was a mere reaction to the long period of decline or if the benchmark has bottomed out in terms of coronavirus worries.

Coronavirus concerns continued to weigh on stocks internationally, sending the benchmark of the Greek bourse close to 900 points on Monday on its sixth consecutive day of losses.

Global concerns over the expansion of China's coronavirus have taken a toll on international markets, with the Greek bourse again being no exception. Thursday's was the fourth consecutive session of losses, which so far this week have added up to 1.6 billion euros in capitalization.

The bond issue on Tuesday and Wednesday's T-bill auction appeared to have wrung investors dry at Athinon Avenue, as Wednesday's stock session - which resulted in more winners than losers while the benchmark inched lower - had the lowest turnover of the last 76 trading days.

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 benchmark of the Greek bourse came off last Friday's five-year highs on Monday as the market appeared to be keeping some cash aside for the upcoming 15-year Greek government bond issue. International pressure on stocks from the Chinese coronavirus played a part too, while the Greek economy's upgrade by Fitch had already been priced in last week.

Many investors opted to sit out Thursday's trading session at Athinon Avenue ahead of Friday night's verdict by Fitch on Greece's rating and outlook, with sellers putting an end to the benchmark's seven-session rising streak.

Despite the slight drop of the banks index on Wednesday, the benchmark and the majority of stocks on the Greek bourse continued their rise, led by mid-caps, albeit at a slower pace than in previous days. This has taken the main index to another five-year record high after the seventh straight day of gains.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market continued its course toward the 1,000-point mark with a sixth consecutive session of moderate gains on Tuesday, largely thanks to the closing auctions, which offset all the morning losses and split stocks down the middle between winners and losers.