Economic indicators

After a day's respite, the Greek stock market returned to its upward course on Friday, with the benchmark covering some of its Thursday losses on its way toward the 1,000-point mark.

The main index at Athinon Avenue came off its eight-year peak on Thursday with a significant drop that bore the marks of profit-taking, but with a significant trading volume that showed interest remains considerable in the local bourse. This was only the second session of decline for the benchmark of the local stock market since the start of the year.

Wednesday saw the benchmark of the Greek stock market register a new 11-month high on moderate daily gains that changed the earlier picture of negligible losses in a session of rather shallow trade at Athinon Avenue. 

The main index was able to turn the tables in the closing auctions, with rising stocks narrowly edging out the losers.

The outlook for Greece's sovereign credit rating to return to investment grade and the 50-million-euro package of Mytilineos shares that changed hands on Monday gave a fresh boost to the Greek stock market at the beginning of the week, with its benchmark climbing to highs unseen in almost 11 months. This was the sixth consecutive session of gains for the bourse.

The Greek stock market completed an entire week of growth, as Thursday's session was the fifth in succession with the benchmark in the black, climbing this time above the 950-point mark, only to illustrate to observers that the only way is up for the local bourse these days.

Energy stocks led the Greek stock market's benchmark to new eight-month highs on Tuesday. The Athens bourse confirmed the upward trajectory of the last couple of weeks with a session that saw better turnover and a wider variety of options for traders to implement purchases.

The Greek stock market opened the new year with another eight-month high on Monday, even if trading was a fraction of its usual size, due to the festive season and the fact that Wall Street was closed.

The positive mood prevailed throughout the day at Athinon Avenue, with banks leading the way up and rising stocks outnumbering falling ones by a ratio of more than five-to-three.

Nearly 40% of Bulgarian drivers want to reduce their carbon footprint. This is shown by the results of a national representative survey of the leading global agency KANTAR, initiated by Shell Bulgaria

Bulgaria ranks 36th among 165 countries and territories in Frasers's 2021 Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report, losing four positions from last year, said Tuesday the Institute for Market Economics (IME) which is the local partner of Fraser Institute.
A year earlier Bulgaria was 32nd in the ranking.

The only way was up on Thursday for most banks after Wednesday's decline, with the credit sector (although not Piraeus Bank) carrying the rest of the stock market to significant gains - albeit not as impressive as some highs recorded during the course of the session. Turnover also headed higher - another encouraging sign.