Hellenic Exchanges

Oversold bank stocks staged a remarkable rebound in Thursday's bourse session, with Alpha and National announcing a return to profit in July-September at the end of the trading day. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) was also buoyed by rallying international markets, the drop in Greek bond yields and a favorable report by Moody's on the Bank of Greece proposal for slashing bad loans.

Bank stocks fell to new lows on Monday, with their index reaching levels unseen since February 2016. The benchmark of the Greek bourse continued to sink closer to the 600-point mark, which is seen as the last line of defense before a more extensive selling spree.

Daily turnover on the Greek stock market was the lowest in eight sessions on Tuesday, while both the benchmark and the blue chip index lost ground in line with the downbeat mood on stock markets abroad.

Gains registered by bank stocks and Public Power Corporation spurred prices on Athinon Avenue on Monday, helped also by the recovery of most international markets, although the low turnover did not bode well for the rest of the week.

The messages coming from the 13th Annual Greek Roadshow in London appeared to take a toll on bank stocks on Thursday, as they were hit with fresh losses, while investors will be keeping an eye out during September's triple witching on Friday as it is considered a key indicator regarding the market's course over the medium term.

Most of the early gains registered by Greek stocks were wiped out by the end of Wednesday's trading session in Athens, with banks and mid-caps posting losses while the benchmark and other blue chips headed north.

The overselling of Greek stocks - especially banks - in previous days and the positive mood on markets across Europe helped assure the benchmark at Athinon Avenue ended a bit higher than it started on Friday, at the end of another losing week.

The improvement in the mood on global markets along with the rise in the prices of Italian and Greek bonds and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's rather measured financial pledges at the Thessaloniki International Fair over the weekend - which appeased traders - led to a significant rebound of Greek stocks on Monday after a week and a half of constant decline for the benchmark.

Greek bank stocks suffered increased pressure on Tuesday, which also had a knock-on effect on other major blue chips, resulting in significant losses for all indexes at Athinon Avenue.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) registered its highest daily turnover in 22 sessions following the publication of the International Monetary Fund's Article IV report on Tuesday, although there was a mixed overall picture for local stocks, with mid-caps sliding.

The ATHEX general index ended at 761.23 points, adding 0.40 percent to Monday's 758.18 points.