Viohalco

Lackluster buying interest on the bourse and the sudden drop in action in the last three hours of the session, after the Athens earthquake, resulted in minor losses for the majority of stocks at Athinon Avenue, but the week still closed with gains.

The second half of Wednesday's bourse session in Athens saw the return of buyers, who focused on certain blue chips like banks and oversold Public Power Corporation, but also Lamda Development and Mytilineos, on the back of important corporate developments.

The Greek stock market demonstrated a clear lack of direction during Tuesday's session, with banks and the majority of smaller stocks heading lower while the other blue chips offset earlier losses and kept the benchmark afloat.

Despite the selling trend observed at the Greek bourse early on Wednesday and the distribution of dividends by a number of blue chip companies, stocks recovered in the latter half of the trading session, with the majority recording gains and turnover heading higher.

Non-bank blue chips contained the earlier losses of the Greek bourse's main index on Tuesday, but observers note the political change expected on July 7 has already been priced in and the geopolitical tensions off Cyprus, in the Aegean Sea and in the Persian Gulf are making traders cautious.

The absorption of some market liquidity by the Piraeus Bank bond issue and anticipation of the Fed's decision on US interest rate policy weighed on the Greek bourse on Wednesday, with the benchmark easing and trading volume shrinking in comparison with previous days.

The start of the long weekend in Greece on Friday was reflected in the much quieter trade at the Athens stock market, with prices and indexes split between winners and losers at the end of another week of gains.

The main index of the Greek bourse on Thursday reached highs unseen since May 2018, as the momentum among buyers continued unabated at Athinon Avenue.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 850.37 points, adding 0.79 percent to Wednesday's 843.73 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.45 percent to end at 2,161.94 points.

After a mixed session on Wednesday with more gainers than losers but a slight drop for the main indexes, the benchmark at the Greek bourse came off Tuesday's 13-month high to settle for a mere two-point reduction by the end of the day, on reduced turnover too, as traders took a breather.

The Greek stock market's usual buying targets - i.e. banks and Public Power Corporation - secured considerable gains at the start of the week, taking the benchmark to a new 13-month high as the market displayed its excitement at the formal announcement of a snap general election.