GEK Terna

Negative sentiment in European markets and investors locking in short-term gains led the Greek stock market to drop for a third successive week on Friday.

The week's final trading session was decisive for the negative trend.

Concerns over Greek tourism, given the forest fires on Rhodes and Corfu, put an end to the rising streak of the Athens stock market on Monday, with the indexes suffering small losses and the losing stocks outnumbering the gainers, on reduced turnover too. Still, Aegean Airlines recorded a new historic high on the day.

Friday's narrow trading session at the Greek stock market concluded with some gains for most, at the end of a week of price growth that sent the benchmark to yet another nine-year high at the close. Barring any unforeseeable factors, the short-term trend at Athinon Avenue remains positive, with prices rising in line with the temperatures.

Athens' stock market went up, then down and then back up on Wednesday, the end result being the benchmark's closing at a high unseen since early April 2014, even if the day's turnover was not as robust as on Tuesday.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market appeared once again on Thursday reluctant to measure itself against the 1,300-point level it had last reached in June 2014, and gave ground on a day of reduced trading volume.

Profit-taking by investors continued at the Greek stock market on Tuesday, although unlike on Monday the decline of the benchmark was contained toward the end of the session, in spite of the steady drop by bank stocks.

Traders at the Greek stock market considered Monday to be a good time to cash in their recent gains, in the absence of several institutionals given the holiday in the US, which also resulted in the lowest daily turnover recorded in over 20 sessions.

The strong start to Monday's session at the Greek bourse gave way to some profit-taking initiatives in the afternoon that erased almost all of the benchmark's gains. The main index closed on the day's low, but that humble growth sufficed for yet another nine-year high. This was the sixth consecutive session of gains for the benchmark.

A rollercoaster session at Athinon Avenue on Thursday saw constant shifts from black to red and back, before the benchmark of the market heeded the course of mid-caps to close with gains for yet another day, despite the decline of the banks index. That means the main index has registered yet another nine-year high, with turnover remaining at a particularly satisfactory level.

The opening of the binding financial offers for 67% of Iraklio Port Authority had been scheduled for Thursday, but this is no longer expected to happen.

Both contenders have asked to examine the legalization documents of their competitor.

Their new deadline expires early next week, so it is likely that the financial bids will be unsealed at the board meeting next Thursday.