Folli

After four days southbound and a few more hours of losses on Tuesday, Greek stocks staged a recovery, offsetting the early drop and recovering some ground lost in previous sessions.

The standoff between blue chip company Folli Follie and Quintessential Capital Management over the former's fundamentals continued to weigh heavily on the Greek stock market on Monday. The benchmark dropped for a fourth day in a row, in spite of the positive outcome of the banks' stress tests (largely factored in) and the favorable atmosphere on foreign markets.

Greece's securities regulator said on Monday it will ask luxury goods maker Folli Follie to have its 2017 consolidated accounts scrutinized by an independent auditing firm after an equity fund report sent its shares crashing last week.

The Folli Follie limit-down weighed heavily on the benchmark at Athinon Avenue on Friday, bringing a week of losses to a fitting close.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 823.89 points, shedding 1.84 percent from Thursday's 839.34 points. On a weekly basis it gave up 2.99 percent.

Greek luxury goods maker Folli Follie said a report issued by Quintessential Capital Management (QCM) on the company was "defamatory" and damaging its interests.

The stock fell 30 percent on the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday after QCM issued a report which said that the company has overstated the number of points of sales it operated worldwide.

Investors finally put an end to the Greek bourse benchmark's nine-session slide on Monday. The rise was led by bank and utility stocks, while mid-caps continued their descent. Trading volume was particularly low.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 790.05 points, adding 0.55 percent to Friday's 785.72 points.

The Greek stock market had another narrow trading session on Wednesday, with mild losses for the majority of stocks and traders shifting their attention to Friday's triple-witching and the upcoming shake-up of the FTSE indices, concerning Mytilineos, Sarantis and Viohalco.

Tuesday's bourse session was a mixed bag, with a few package transactions boosting trading volume in what was otherwise a quiet day at Athinon Avenue. However, there was notable pressure on bank stocks.

Following the trend set by global markets since late on Tuesday, buyers in Athens took advantage of the benchmark's three-day decline on Wedneday, allowing Greek stocks to recover some lost ground. However, trading volume was considerably lower than in the last few sessions.

The stress test parameters, which are more conducive to optimism than those of 2015, gave bank stocks a boost in Wednesday's trading session at Athinon Avenue, taking the benchmark's total gains for January to 9.53 percent - its best monthly performance in 20 months.