OTE TELECOM

The non-bank blue chips kept the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) benchmark afloat on Thursday, in spite of the significant decline seen the previous day in the US market and pressure on bank stocks. Turnover improved slightly and stocks were split down the middle between winners and losers.

While turnover remained subdued on the Greek stock market on Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday in the US on Thursday, banks' 4 percent rise managed to take the benchmark back above the 600-point mark.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 602.60 points, adding 0.65 percent to Thursday's 598.73 points. On a weekly basis it conceded 3.69 percent.

The shake-up of the MSCI indexes, the 1.7 percent jump in the 10-Greek bond yield and eurozone concerns over the impact of a "hard Brexit" weighed on the benchmark of the Greek stock exchange on Thursday while the bank stocks index sank to a new 33-month low.

As the market awaits the formal announcement of the new composition of the MSCI stock indexes on Tuesday, pressure on most blue chips - especially those in the credit sector - led the benchmark at Athinon Avenue lower on Monday, with turnover climbing above 50 million euros.

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.

August ended with losses of 4.15 percent for the Greek stock market's benchmark, while banks fell over 14 percent, as Friday saw another session of decline albeit with the highest turnover of the last three months, mainly thanks to the rebalancing of the MSCI index.

JP Morgan has raised its target price for OTE telecom shares to 14.1 euros, expecting the Deutsche Telekom-owned company to expand further in the domestic market by adding to its broadband connection market share.

On Wednesday OTE's share price on the Athens stock market ended at 10.75 euros.

Scenarios of Greece returning to the capital markets are on the increase again following the meetings held by the top officials of the Finance Ministry and the Public Debt Management Agency in New York and Boston earlier this month.

Nevertheless, sources say that no decision has been made yet, with the PDMA closely monitoring developments in international markets.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) started the week with a particularly quiet session, featuring low trading volume and mild gains for the majority of stocks.

The ATHEX general index ended at 778.57 points, adding 0.23 percent to Friday's 776.77 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.16 percent to 2,047.58 points.

An Athens appeals court on Friday reduced to five years an eight-year prison sentence handed down to former PASOK minister Tasos Mandelis for money laundering and said it would allow him to pay off the fine.