Economy of Greece

The last week of November began with minor losses for the Greek bourse’s benchmark as traders are anticipating developments regarding a pending review of the Greek program’s progress by the country’s creditors. With Fitch maintaining Greece’s ‘B’ credit rating late on Friday, the market is now shifting its attention to the new ratings to be announced by Moody’s at the end of this week.

Expectations of a deal between Greece and its creditors and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s statements for further support to the economy if necessary, which were well received across the eurozone, sent the Greek bourse benchmark mighty close to the 1,000-point mark on Friday, a rather unlikely outcome to the week considering the miserable series of sessions leading up to the ral

The Greek bourse continued rising on Thursday, albeit at a much slower pace due to investors exercising caution ahead of the results of Athens’s negotiations with its creditors and Fitch’s credit rating report.

The Greek economy may be basking in the glow of a record summer tourism season, but it is just one bright spot in a fragile recovery overshadowed by weak exports, economists say.

“Tourism did the best it could to lift the Greek economy but it can’t do it all,” said economist Panayiotis Petrakis at the University of Athens.

The benchmark of the Greek stock exchange has added more than 8 percent in just two sessions, climbing almost 40 points on Wednesday on reports that the government is close to reaching a deal with its creditors and that international credit rating agencies are about to upgrade Greece.

The optimism generated on Tuesday by the assurances of the finance minister as well as anticipation of a credit rating upgrade either by Fitch on Friday or Moody’s next week led to a major rebound at the local bourse that saw rising stocks outnumber decliners by a ratio of three-to-one. Turnover also showed a significant improvement.

The positive growth figures that Greece has been posting over the past few months are largely due to a successful year in tourism and all signs point to another excellent year for the sector in 2015.

Turnover at the Greek bourse slumped to a 14-month low on Monday as investors hold back due to the uncertainty hanging over negotiations between the government and its creditors.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 881.76 points, shedding 1.01 percent from Friday’s 890.74 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 index contracted 1.11 percent to 284.65 points.

The local stock market saw little reason to buy into Friday’s news of the country’s official return to growth, with the weak momentum abating but taking the benchmark just over 890 points while trading volume ended at the lowest level of the last seven sessions.

Romania has posted the highest Q3, 2014 economic growth in the European Union, on a quarterly basis, according to preliminary estimates released on Friday by the Eurostat European Statistics Office.