Index

Mid- and small-caps on Wednesday served to maintain the upward trajectory of the Greek bourse benchmark, which completed its sixth consecutive session of expansion, albeit marginally, despite blue chips and bank stocks heading south.

The benchmark at the Greek stock market tested the waters around the 1,080-point level and returned below 1,070 points on Tuesday, closing with minimal gains that sufficed to make the session the fifth in a row with growth for the bourse. This was mainly driven by bank stocks, while the majority of the market ended up with losses, albeit minor in most cases.

Energy and bank stocks led the Greek stock market to its fourth consecutive session of price growth on Monday, albeit on a relatively low turnover. The decision by OPEC+ to reduce oil output pushed global rates higher and favored oil company stocks, including those listed in ATHEX.

The benchmark of the Greek stock market cleared the 1,050-point bar on Friday, but that was not enough to prevent it from ending the month of March with a loss - a first after the rising streak from October to February. While the benchmark recorded a drop of 6.61% for March, it ended the first quarter with an increase of 13.42%.

A day before the end of the year's first quarter, the Greek stock market regained some more of the ground lost in previous days and appears to be regaining some of its January and February momentum - which for some can be attributed to Q1 window dressing.

The Goldman Sachs comment on Wednesday afternoon that the Greek economy will stay strong despite any political turmoil, and even regain investment grade in three weeks' time, helped the Greek stock market secure gains on Wednesday, even if it had struggled to keep pace with the rest of its eurozone peers. Moody's positive outlook of the local credit sector also helped.

Traders at Athinon Avenue reacted with surprise to the largely predictable announcement of the general election on May 21, swinging the main index of the Greek stock market to losses that exceeded 1% by the end of Tuesday's session.

The Greek bourse recovered almost half of the ground it had lost in the near-3% decline of its benchmark last Friday, but it was on particularly low turnover, which does not bode well for the coming days. 

International concerns over the credit system will no go away easily, and the  reacted with fear over the course of Deutsche Bank on Friday inflicting losses on almost all bank stocks in the eurozone. The Greek bourse was no exception, with the banks index suffering a major drop and the benchmark losing almost 3% in one day.

The slowing pace of the Fed rate hikes and those that followed in Britain, Switzerland and Norway kept investors at bay on Thursday, though buyers edged out sellers at Athinon Avenue for price growth on low turnover. This time banks underperformed, but they are about to be joined soon by the new listing of Optima Bank in a rare injection of fresh blood in this section of the market.