Economic growth

September's triple-witching and the rebalancing of indexes led to the largest daily turnover on the Greek stock market in the last three-and-a-half months on Friday. This was sealed in the closing auctions, when the benchmark reverted to positive territory at the end of another week of gains.

The Greek stock market shook off international concerns regarding oil prices and a US-Iran standoff and posted some healthy gains in the second half of the week's first session, on improved trading volume too.

The Greek stock market recovered somewhat on Wednesday after three days of losses thanks to a buying spree during the closing auctions that took the main indexes to the day's high amid a positive mood in most foreign markets.

Romania's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first six months of 2019 by 4.7pct in unadjusted terms and by 4.8pct when adjusted for seasonality, compared with H1 2018, mainly fuelled by household consumption, according to provisional data released on Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

The 1.5 percent growth rate recorded in the first half of 2019, announced on Wednesday by Greece's statistics service (ELSTAT), raises the bar for the new government to secure the growth it seeks.
ELSTAT data showed the economy expanded at an annual 1.9 percent rate in the second quarter, accelerating from a downwardly revised 1.1 percent growth rate in the first quarter.

The Greek stock market benchmark ended its four-session rising streak on Monday, as the major surge in the Public Power Corporation's stock price was not enough to avert the slide in the main index that was largely brought on by anticipated profit taking by traders.

The growth of the Bulgarian economy will weaken over the next two years against the background of the expected decrease in exports and domestic consumption. This is clear from the second Economic Review for the year, prepared by the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB). "We forecast the real GDP growth rate of Bulgaria in 2019 to reach 3.7%, accelerating compared to 2018.

Yesterday, the European Central Bank published an economic newsletter warning of the deteriorating risks to the global economy.

Anticipation of positive feedback from Fitch in its report on Greece, expected late on Friday, and the advance of Greek bonds helped contain the stock drop at Athinon Avenue at the end of the week, compared to significant retreats on other eurozone markets.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 885.11 points, shedding 1.11 percent from Wednesday's 895.04 points.

Greece can only achieve a high economic growth rate if direct investments increase, Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras said in an interview with US magazine Fortune.