GEK Terna

The anticipated reduction of Piraeus Bank's capital adequacy requirements as set by the European Central Bank served on Monday to boost the bank stock that has suffered the most in recent months - and with it the rest of the bourse - although trading volume was again disappointingly low.

On a good day for the Greek bond market, local stocks rallied at the end of the trading session on Tuesday to notch up enough gains to send the benchmark higher. Former state companies were at the focus of buying interest.

Athens urban rail transport company STASY is part of one of the six major consortiums to be short-listed for the second stage of the tender for the operation and maintenance of Jerusalem's light rail system.

The closing auctions saved the day for the Greek stock market's benchmark once again on Friday, leading to the highest daily turnover in 30 sessions. The banks index also ended its six-day losing streak, during which it had shrunk by almost 20 percent.

The slight recovery of stock prices during the closing auctions on Thursday did not suffice to offset the losses of the Athens benchmark, which ended almost 1 percent lower. Banks were at the focus of selling interest again.

Stocks rose at Athinon Avenue for a third session in a row on Monday, contrary to the negative move recorded in most eurozone stock markets, but low turnover is making observers wary about the course of the week ahead.

The start of the new year on the Greek stock market gave traders little to cheer about, with the majority of stocks ending on the losing side and turnover failing even to make the 20-million-euro level, as the Athens bourse appeared to affected by the downbeat mood prevailing across most of Europe.

A year of losses ended on Monday at the Greek bourse on a high note, as the benchmark advanced by almost 10 points albeit on a very low turnover. However this has only marginally contained the loss of some 9 billion euros from the local market's capitalization in the course of 2018, when listed banks saw their value cut in half.

The decline on the Greek bourse that began last Friday continued on Wednesday while turnover remained low. Athinon Avenue appears to be heading in a whole other direction to the rest of the eurozone, which saw markets recover after the agreement between Brussels and Rome on the Italian budget.

The negative mood among domestic and foreign investors alike saw Greek stocks posting fresh losses at the start of the week, with the decline accelerating when European bourses headed south. The rather unexpected jump in Greek bond yields also contributed toward the stock drop.