Athens Exchange

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.

Trading at the Greek bourse was dominated on Wednesday by the large packages of Eurobank and National Bank stocks that changed hands. The decline in their prices inflicted losses on the benchmark at Athinon Avenue, while pressure from developments in the Middle East appeared to ease over the course of the day.

Most stocks recorded moderate gains or got a bit of a breather following last Friday's decline in the first trading session after the long weekend, but it appears clear that any disruption will be more likely to come from developments abroad than domestic ones this year.

The geopolitical situation in the Middle East took a toll on global markets on Friday, and the Greek bourse was no exception. The main index at Athinon Avenue contained its losses at the end of the session, coming off a decline of more than 2.2 percent over the course of the day.

The new year started with another 58-month high for the Greek stock market benchmark on Thursday, showing that the local bourse's growth momentum remains strong even without the support of credit sector stocks.

The Greek stock market brought to a close on Tuesday its best year in the 21st century, as its benchmark posted annual gains of 49.47 percent - a performance unseen since the 1999 stock bubble. This historic record came in the year after the completion of the third bailout program and with a change in government in early July.

With only one short session left till the end of the year - as stock trading will cease two hours early on Tuesday - the benchmark at Athinon Avenue remained on Monday close to the near-five-year highs registered on Friday.

A predictably quiet day on the Greek bourse on Friday ended at the highest point of the last 58 months as buyers proved quite active in the last hour-and-a-half of trading.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 920.54 points, adding 0.88 percent to Monday's 912.52 points, the highest since February 2015. On a weekly basis it advanced 3.19 percent.

The last bourse session before Christmas at Athinon Avenue brought most listed companies a welcome festive gift, as sellers stood out for their absence, leaving buyers to have a field day on reduced turnover.

Stocks suffered a day of losses at the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday, with just a handful of sessions left till the end of the year for traders to complete their window dressing, but the benchmark didn't lose all its weekly gains, posting an increase of 0.11 percent compared to the previous Friday.