GEK Terna

After a particularly quiet session on the Greek bourse, with the lowest turnover of the last four-and-a-half months, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue ended its four-day rising streak on Monday with a slight decline, mainly due to the bank losses.

The benchmark at Athinon Avenue proved unable to hold on to most of the gains it had recorded during the day on Wednesday, in line with the majority of other eurozone bourses. It presented a mixed picture at the end of the session, with rising stocks narrowly edging out the losers on a day when the bond market dominated investor interest.

For a second day in a row the Greek bourse benchmark continued its recovery without the support of bank stocks on Wednesday, although mid-session gains had shrunk by the end of what was a fairly slow day.

The bond issue on Tuesday and Wednesday's T-bill auction appeared to have wrung investors dry at Athinon Avenue, as Wednesday's stock session - which resulted in more winners than losers while the benchmark inched lower - had the lowest turnover of the last 76 trading days.

The huge investor interest in the Greek 15-year bond issued on Tuesday distracted traders from the Athens stock market, which saw early gains turn into losses toward the end of the session. After two days of contraction, stock prices are likely to rebound from Wednesday.

The benchmark of the Greek bourse came off last Friday's five-year highs on Monday as the market appeared to be keeping some cash aside for the upcoming 15-year Greek government bond issue. International pressure on stocks from the Chinese coronavirus played a part too, while the Greek economy's upgrade by Fitch had already been priced in last week.

Many investors opted to sit out Thursday's trading session at Athinon Avenue ahead of Friday night's verdict by Fitch on Greece's rating and outlook, with sellers putting an end to the benchmark's seven-session rising streak.

The European Union's lending arm, the European Investment Bank (EIB), signed a 180-million-euro ($199.69 million) loan deal with Greece to help it pay its share for a new airport on Crete, the country's biggest island.

Greece has been upgrading its airport facilities to handle an increasing number of tourists visiting the country, one of the world's top holiday destinations.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market continued its course toward the 1,000-point mark with a sixth consecutive session of moderate gains on Tuesday, largely thanks to the closing auctions, which offset all the morning losses and split stocks down the middle between winners and losers.

The positive views on the Greek economy and its banks by various foreign firms, including rating agency DBRS Morningstar, continue to feed traders' buying interest, which is also trickling down to mid- and small-caps. This carried the benchmark through to another day of growth on Wednesday, on higher trading volume too thanks to a number of packages that changed hands.