Terna Energy

The lowest daily turnover of the year at the Greek stock exchange confirmed more than just the beginning of the summer holiday in Athens on Monday; far from emerging from the crisis era, Athinon Avenue still appears to be a shallow market swayed by a few speculative moves. The benchmark at the day's low wiped out all of Friday's gains.

The Greek stock market had a mixed session on reduced turnover on Wednesday, as the losses posted by bank stocks were more or less offset by gains registered by construction and industrial blue chips, among others.

Concerns about a further escalation of tension in Syria had a major impact on eurozone markets on Wednesday, including the Greek bourse, which saw its rising streak end after three sessions of gains. Daily turnover slipped back below the 50-million-euro level.

Stocks in the Greek bourse returned to action on Tuesday after the Easter holidays with a third successive session of significant gains, but this time with quite a respectable volume in trading.

The Athens bourse benchmark rose again on Friday, tipping the weekly balance from losses to gains, following two weeks on a downward slide. Trading volume remained low though, as investors appear reserved about the outlook of the local economy and the international landscape in general.

The surprise sovereign rating upgrade by Moody's and signs of a recovery on Wall Street boosted activity on the Greek stock market on Thursday, with buyers regaining the upper hand and trading volume posting an improvement.

The Greek bourse's benchmark declined for a second day in a row on Thursday as sellers retained the upper hand after Wednesday's notable drop, but attention also shifted to mid-caps, which showed a mixed picture with their index posting moderate gains in a session of reduced trading volume. That led to stocks being split down the middle between winners and losers.

The pattern of one losing session in every six continued at the Athens bourse on Wednesday as the benchmark posted a small decline with the morning losses contained over the course of the day. The volatile session saw an increase in turnover above the 70-million-euro mark.

Stocks in the Greek bourse continued their ascent on Friday, supported by the significant decline recorded in bond yields. The main index advanced for the 13th time in the last 15 sessions with total gains that exceed 12 percent.

If its first session for the year is anything to go by, the Greek stock market can expect a great 2018, as its benchmark added 2 percent on Tuesday to its closing for 2017, reaching a new four-month high. Led by Piraeus Bank, the local bourse bucked the trend seen in the eurozone at the start of the year.