Terna Group

The three consortiums bidding for the construction project of the fourth Athens metro line have been short-listed for the second stage of the tender. The three suitors have been asked to table their financial and technical offers by December 10, so that the selection process for the biggest public works project of the next decade can begin.

The benchmark of the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) headed south on Friday, as financial turmoil in Turkey and the jittery climate in European markets weighed on Greek stocks.

The ATHEX general index ended at 743.73 points, down 1.45 percent from Thursday's 754.65 points.

Turnover came to 27.2 million euros.

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.

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.

Buyers made a comeback at the Greek stock market on Friday, as they took the benchmark more than 1 percent higher while turnover surged above 150 million euros. The market appeared to have been expecting that Greece's credit rating would be upgraded by Standard & Poor's.

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.