Quest Holdings

Mid-caps proved quite the attraction at the Greek stock market on Wednesday, taking the benchmark out of the red and into the black, with the vast majority of stocks ending up with gains on the day. Still, trading volume remained at a moderate level for another session, as activity in the markets appears to have already slowed down with the approach of the festive season.

December appears to have started in a relatively slow mode for the Greek stock market, despite the Fitch Ratings boost last Friday and the decline in Greek bond yields. On Tuesday prices at Athinon Avenue headed lower, though their decline was contained during the closing auctions, while trading remained below the 100-milllion-euro mark. 

The Greek stock market entered December recording a new three-month high for its benchmark on Friday, even if that was on significantly reduced daily turnover, the lowest of the week. The rise of the majority of stocks came in the face of a decline by banks, with mid-caps behind the main push upward.

Athinon Avenue recorded a third successive day of gains on Wednesday, on the back of Tuesday's major rise, though this time traders appeared to be more interested in carefully taking positions than spreading their buying across the board. This was also reflected in the day's turnover, which was reduced compared to the two previous days.

Stocks soared on Tuesday at Athinon Avenue, with traders shifting most of their attention to banks, which saw their index jump by almost 6% driven by the huge interest in the public offering of National Bank.

For the third day in a row the benchmark of the Greek stock market closed with losses that affected half the board's stocks. However, on Thursday the turnover was significantly increased compared to previous days. Banks led the decline, with the exception of National Bank, while corporate results continued to dictate the moves of investors.

The main index at the Greek stock market climbed to a new seven-week high on Monday with banks and a few more blue chips leading the rest of the bourse higher on a day of relatively low turnover. The trend of the market remains upward after the previous months' decline, and the year-end window dressing promises even greater gains for local stocks.

Greek stocks edged higher for a third session in a row, taking the benchmark close to 1,200 points on Tuesday. However, that was not enough to prevent a negative result for October, which closed with monthly losses of 1.34% for the main index. That was the third consecutive month with a decline.

Greek stocks edged higher for a third session in a row, taking the benchmark close to 1,200 points on Tuesday. However, that was not enough to prevent a negative result for October, which closed with monthly losses of 1.34% for the main index. That was the third consecutive month with a decline.

Tuesday saw the benchmark at Athinon Avenue avoid another decline as it held on to some of its gains and ended the day in the black and on a week-high, albeit on reduced turnover. On Wednesday the Greek bourse is entering the three-day period for the floating of Optima, the first bank to be listed on the Greek stock market since the end of the financial crisis.