FTSE

The Athens stock market appears to have run out of steam in the last few days, with reduced buying interest and lower trading volume, as was the case in Wednesday's mixed session. Mid- and small-caps outperformed, albeit on a significantly lower number of transactions.

The decision of the Eurogroup on Monday to put off the disbursement to Greece of the 5.7-billion-euro bailout tranche overshadowed the positive news of last Friday's credit rating upgrade by Fitch - from B- to B - at the Greek bourse on Tuesday, although the losses were contained somewhat during the closing auctions.

Some investors cash in Wednesday's and Thursday's gains as the week drew to a close, but the benchmark at Athinon Avenue remained in the black on Friday, mainly thanks to Coca-Cola HBC and a few other blue chips. However, the credit sector headed south.

Some investors cash in Wednesday's and Thursday's gains as the week drew to a close, but the benchmark at Athinon Avenue remained in the black on Friday, mainly thanks to Coca-Cola HBC and a few other blue chips. However, the credit sector headed south.

Buyers have returned to the Greek bourse, bringing handsome gains for the vast majority of local stocks on Thursday, although the low trading volume suggested this was more likely a case of profit-taking than confidence in Athinon Avenue.

Greek stocks yo-yoed between gains and losses on Wednesday, with the news on US inflation weighing not only on the ATHEX but most European bourses too. The strong finish by Coca-Cola HBC kept the benchmark afloat after a days-long decline, but trading volume was notably reduced.

The despondent atmosphere prevailing on international markets continued to affect Greek stocks and sovereign bonds on Tuesday. According to observers, the latest row with Turkey also weighed on the benchmark at Athinon Avenue.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 821.85 points, shedding 0.20 percent from Monday's 823.46 points.

Morning gains gave way to afternoon losses for Greek stocks on Monday, with all the main indices ending the session near or on their day lows - even though fellow eurozone markets headed higher - while turnover was the lowest of the last 20 sessions.

Greek stocks went with the flow of international markets again on Friday, suffering fresh losses that brought the benchmark's decline over the week to more than 5 percent. It is estimated that the capitalization of local stocks has shrunk by over 3 billion euros in the last few sessions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 841.38 points on Thursday, shedding 1.01 percent from Wednesday's 849.94 points, as investors appeared distracted by the seven-year bond issue and concerned by the fresh drop on foreign markets.

The large-cap FTSE-25 index fell 1.14 percent to 2,133 points and the banks index lost 2.06 percent.