Autohellas

Banks almost single-handedly pushed the benchmark of the Greek bourse higher on Friday, as the other blue chips appeared rather weak on the day.

The reaction of the Greek stock market on Friday to a string of sessions of decline was fairly unsatisfactory, as buyers appeared to be suffering from fatigue that the previous months' advance may have generated, without the catalyst that would trigger a rise. The market has now stagnated between 1,400 and 1,500 points for months.

The 35 million tourist arrivals expected this year are reflected in the performance of leading companies linked to tourism. The strengthening of the first-half figures of Aegean Airlines,

Athens International Airport and Autohellas are consistent with the tourism explosion, but also highlight the need for infrastructure improvement.

The positive news from the US labor data and the outperforming of the Greek economy in the European context during the year's second quarter did not suffice to give further momentum to buyers at the Greek stock market on Friday. However, the small losses were not enough to reverse the positive weekly picture of the market, with September confirming its promising start.

The Greek stock market closed in the red, but far from the day’s lows, in a session marked by strong import pressure. The “breach” of 1,430 points proved to be temporary, with sellers gradually “downshifting” and eventually calmness prevailed on the board.

Once again, the Athens Stock Exchange posted mild gains on low turnover, with buyers driving the market through most of Monday's session.

The Athens Stock Exchange posted gains for a fifth session in the row, finally erasing the tumble (6.27%) on Monday, August 5, when panicky investors were selling right and left.

The general index closed at 1,431.88, a gain of 0.62%, having risen as high as 1,438.67 (+1.10%) intraday.

The week started on the right foot at the Athens Stock Exchange, with the market recovering some important ground from last Monday's 6.27% mini-crash and closing just shy of 1,400 points.

The rebound, which had started last Tuesday, had stalled on Thursday and Friday.

Recovery on the Athens Stock Exchange extended for a second straight session Wednesday, this time boosted by the greatly improved global mood.

Banks drove this recovery, as they did turnover, recovering an important part of the ground lost during Monday's big sell-off.

Stock prices staged a comeback on Friday to see the benchmark end the week with gains for the fourth consecutive week - a sequence unseen in over four months. The bank sector this time bucked the trend and finished the day with losses, ahead of the announcement of the four systemic lenders' first-half results from next Wednesday.