Stock market

Listed companies will distribute more dividends this year than 2018, according to data collected by Leon Depolas Securities for Kathimerini.

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.

Italian bad-loan investor Fire is looking to add 1 billion euros in assets under management this year as it works toward an eventual stock market listing, its chief executive said.

Foreign investors accounted for more than half of total trading activity on Greece's stock market last year, executives at stock and futures operator Hellenic Exchanges said on Wednesday.

Greek equities fell 23.6 percent in 2018, a tough year in which banks took a beating. But mid-cap shares bucked the downtrend for a second straight year.

After four sessions of gains, the benchmark of the Greek stock market headed lower on Thursday on the European Commission's downbeat projections regarding growth in the eurozone that also concerned Greece. Investor jitters were also evident again in the credit sector.

The stock market benchmark ended lower on Monday for the first time in six trading days after a volatile session at Athinon Avenue. Still, the majority of stocks ended with gains. Unfazed by the five-year bond issue announcement, investors seemed eager to reap gains from last week's price rise.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) closed 2018 with a 4.77 percent decrease of the local market's blue-chip index, the BET, which includes the most traded 15 companies, BVB said in a release.

National Bank of Greece will not restart the sale of Ethniki Insurance before the second half of this year, as it has been granted a two-year extension to end-2020 for that purpose by the European authorities.

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.

Stock markets around the world remained under pressure Monday with investor confidence weighed down by the recent big sell-off that's put key U.S. indexes on course to record their worst December since the 1930s. News that U.S.