GEK

The Athens stock market managed to remain on a rising course on Tuesday, on presentable trading volume, although stocks painted a mixed picture and the banks index headed lower. Traders were very selective, opting to cash in recent bank stock gains while buying into other blue chips and mid-caps.

The Greek bourse benchmark rose 1.96 percent over the month of March, taking the growth of the main index in the first quarter of the year to 17.62 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 721.37 points on Friday, adding 1.08 percent to Thursday's 713.66 points. On a weekly basis it advanced 1.85 percent.

Dutch investment fund Reggeborgh Invest is evolving into a strategic investor in GEK Terna, as it was announced on Thursday that it will acquire - in two stages - York Capital Management's entire holding in the Greek construction group, which amounts to 17.3 percent.

Another mixed day at the Greek bourse on Thursday saw the majority of stocks head south while most main indexes ended up with gains in a session of increased trading volume thanks to several prearranged transactions.

After five days of gains and the buying fatigue recorded late on Monday, stocks at Athinon Avenue recorded notable losses on Tuesday, bucking the trend seen on other eurozone markets, with turnover remaining low. The next couple of days will determine the direction of the market up to the end of the month.

The five main bidders in the first stage of the previous tender for Public Power Corporation's four lignite plants at Meliti and Megalopoli threw their hats into the ring again on Friday, in addition to another company from China.

Greece's Public Power Corp (PPC) on Friday received six expressions of interest in three coal-fired power plants it is selling under a post-bailout agreement with its international lenders.
PPC, which is 51 percent state owned, relaunched the sale last week after a previous tender failed to attract satisfactory bids last month.

The prospects of a Greek 10-year bond issue and a new tender for the sale of four coal-fired plants owned by Public Power Corporation saw the Athens bourse benchmark hit a new five-month high on Tuesday. Blue chips rose despite the marginal drop for the banks index and the decline in turnover.

National Bank of Greece (NBG) will be the sole underwriter of a 161.1 million euro ($182.7 million) bond to finance contractor GEK Terna's participation in a Greek-Indian consortium that will build a new airport on the island of Crete, it said on Friday.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market recorded a new four-month high on Thursday thanks primarily to the advance by bank stocks, which continued to rise as a solution concerning the protection of debtors' main residences appears to be near.