Athens Exchange

The rally of bank stocks at Athinon Avenue on Friday added to the week's gains for the benchmark of the market, while mid-caps had a day of moderate gains given that foreign investors appear to be largely ignoring them.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 683.46 points, adding 2.04% to Thursday's 669.79 points. On a weekly basis it advanced 4.73%.

Traders had appeared set to cash in recent stock gains at Athinon Avenue on Thursday, but the European Central Bank's announcement that assistance for eurozone member-states would be boosted contained the drop in prices, while the mid-cap index went up.

Bank stocks were back in the driving seat at Athinon Avenue on Wednesday, taking the Greek bourse benchmark to a new three-month high - i.e. its highest since the coronavirus epidemic began in Greece. The 700-point milestone seems to be growing closer, while investors appear to have plenty of disposable cash.

The various channels of liquidity that central banks the world over are offering to markets have boosted prices on the majority of international bourses. Athinon Avenue happily rode the buyers' wave on Tuesday, with interest focusing almost exclusively on blue chips.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market now has the 700-point level in its sights after its sixth day of gains in seven sessions. Construction blue chips led the way this time.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 658.35 points, adding 0.88% to Friday's 652.58 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.52% to 1,579.70 points, while mid-caps contracted 0.25%.

Piraeus Bank, Greece's largest lender by assets, on Monday reported a first-quarter loss after "frontloading" loan impairment provisions to take into account the impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Greece's third-largest lender Eurobank more than doubled its first-quarter net profit on the back of lower provisions for impaired loans and higher fee and commission income, it said on Friday.
Eurobank, which is 2.4% owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, reported net earnings of 57 million euros, up from €22 million in last year's first quarter.

In May 2020, a month still marked with COVID-19 containment measures, euro area annual inflation is expected to be 0.1%, down from 0.3% in April according to a flash estimate from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The upcoming rebalancing of the MSCI Greek stock indexes and profit taking after five consecutive days of gains led to losses at Athinon Avenue on Friday, with a huge daily turnover. Notably 70% of trading volume took placing during the closing auctions. The benchmark of the Athens stock market ended May with a monthly advance of 3.87%, though banks lost 2.94%.

Greece's third-largest lender Eurobank more than doubled its first-quarter net profit on the back of lower provisions for impaired loans and higher fee and commission income, it said on Friday.

Eurobank, which is 2.4% owned by the country's HFSF bank rescue fund, reported net earnings of 57 million euros ($63.4 million), up from 22 million euros in last year's first quarter.