FTSE

The upcoming lifting of the cap on Greek bonds held by local banks not only boosted state bonds and credit sector stocks in Athens on Wednesday but also the benchmark at Athinon Avenue, which climbed to highs unseen since February 2015, while turnover continued to rise.

The stocks of former state companies gave the main index of the Greek bourse a major push on Tuesday while the banks' index stayed put. The benchmark rebounded within range of the 900-point level, with daily turnover rising above 100 million euros.

The Greek stock market bucked the trend set by its peers in the rest of the eurozone and the US on Monday to record losses at the start of the week, with pressure mounting on bank stocks and a few other blue chips, and trading volume posting a notable decline too.

Imported concerns about the US-Chinese trade negotiations weighed on the Greek stock market on Wednesday, on the back of the release of Alpha Bank's third-quarter results on Tuesday and ahead of Thursday's results by National and Eurobank.

The main index at Athinon Avenue edged even closer to the elusive milestone of 900 points on Tuesday, with positive reports fueling the growth of bank stock prices and other blue chips.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 893.37 points, adding 0.57 percent to Monday's 888.29 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.42 percent to 2,232.79 points.

Blue chips got off to a good start on Monday morning in Athens, but the bulk of those gains had evaporated by the end of trade and the majority of stocks ended up in negative territory.

The Greek bourse index came off a four-month high on Friday as traders cashed in some of this week's gains, European stock markets appeared reserved and Greek bond yields continued their ascent to top 1.50 percentage points.

The Greek stock market enjoyed a day of solid gains on Thursday, with banks and Coca-Cola recording considerable growth and trading volume confirming that Athinon Avenue enjoyed wider investor interest than usual. Thursday's growth added a remarkable 1.2 billion euros to the bourse's capitalization.

Non-bank blue chips led Greek stocks in a moderate advanceon Wednesday, while banks swung both ways before settling for minor gains at the end of the session, with rising stocks outnumbering the losers.

Developments in the banking sector, mainly regarding nonperforming loans, gave bank stocks at Athinon Avenue a significant boost on Tuesday as buyers made a comeback, bolstering the bourse benchmark in the process and taking daily turnover back above the 50-million-euro level.