Eurobank Properties

The planned merger between the Eurobank Group and Grivalia Properties that was announced on Monday is aimed at the full streamlining of Greece's third-largest lender through the drastic reduction of its portfolio of nonperforming exposures from 39 percent of all loans at end-September to 15 percent at end-2019 and below 10 percent in 2021.

As global markets hold their collective breath ahead of Thursday’s referendum in Scotland, investors chose to abstain from the local bourse as well on Monday, with the third-lowest daily trading volume of the year to date. Today’s treasury bill auction will likely mean another day of little action for Greek stocks.

The benchmark index of the Athens Stock Exchange closed 0.25 percent higher on Monday, reaching 1,159.25 points and chalking up a fifth consecutive day of gains.

During that period, the general index has delivered combined gains of 6.7 percent.

However, turnover was considerably lower than in previous sessions, reaching just 44.7 million euros.

July proved to be the fourth consecutive month of decline for the Greek bourse as its benchmark shed 3.73 percent following Thursday’s dip, which was in line with most international stock markets on account of the Argentinean selective default. International sanctions on Russia have also played their part.

The main index of the Greek bourse fluctuated in a rather narrow range on Tuesday before finally ending the session with marginal gains on reduced trading volume.

The benchmark of the local bourse managed to claw back morning losses and expand, albeit marginally, for a fifth day in a row on Thursday. However, observers are concerned about continuing low turnover levels, which remained far below the 100-million-euro mark.

The stock market slide over the last two weeks came to an impressive end on Wednesday, as the benchmark climbed back above the 1,200-point level with healthy gains, while turnover edged close to 400 million euros. Piraeus Bank again dominated the proceedings, garnering over three-quarters of trading.

The closing auctions helped the Greek stock market’s benchmark index to post gains of almost 1 percent on Friday, as it registered a small weekly drop of 0.21 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,327.87 points, adding 0.98 percent to Thursday’s 1,314.99 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 1.05 percent to 428.65 points.