National Bank

The overall uncertainty regarding how Greek banks will emerge from October’s stress tests to be conducted on all EU banks has fueled a summer of distress and fluctuation for local banking stocks.

Greek equities posted gains for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, in line with stocks elsewhere in Europe which were helped by a Morgan Stanley report forecasting benefits for firms from the projected slide in the euro. The market was also bolstered by news of a near end to the Greek recession and the disbursement of a 1-billion-euro bailout tranche.

By Yiannis Papadoyiannis

The European Commission’s restructuring plans for Greek banks provide for a drastic scaling back of their activities abroad as well as reductions in the number of branches and staff at home.

The plans for banks National (NBG) and Piraeus were given the green light late last month, following those for Alpha in early July and Eurobank in April.

By Kiel Porter, Marcus Bensasson and Aaron Kirchfeld

The private-equity units of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG are nearing an agreement to purchase the buyout arm of National Bank of Greece SA, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The bourse benchmark contained its mid-day losses of over 1.1 percent to end its third consecutive session of decline losing no more than just 0.10 percent on Wednesday, while turnover went back down to disappointing levels.

After a rather energetic start, local stocks saw little in the way of action on Wednesday, as the main index edged slightly higher and trading volume registered its lowest level in seven sessions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 1,152.32 points, mighty close to the day’s low but still increasing by 0.19 percent from Tuesday’s 1,150.17 points.

Offices of Bulgaria's Corporate Commercial Bank (KTB) and its subsidiary Credit Agricole will remain closed at least until September 21, Bulgarian National Bank informed Tuesday.

Stocks recovered on Monday some of the ground lost last week, as the benchmark index closed on the day’s high to add more than 2 percent, on a remarkably low transaction volume. The closer we get to August, the more the trading activity will decline on days with few major news developments.

Favorable reports on the local credit sector published on Tuesday by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs propelled local stocks to a healthy rebound at the start of the year’s second half.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,228.85 points, adding 1.20 percent to Monday’s 1,214.31 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 1.14 percent to close at 396.52 points.

Retail sales in Greece rebounded in April, data showed on Monday, with Easter shopping helping to post the strongest rise in more than two years.

Retail sales by volume rose 7.3 percent year-on-year after a downwardly revised 1.2 percent drop in March, according to statistics service ELSTAT.