Quest Holdings

The benchmark of the Greek stock market staged an impressive rebound late in Friday's session to come back from 1% down and close with gains of almost 1%. Banks led the way for the recovery of the index, though that was not enough to offset all its weekly losses.

Greek stocks suffered yet another slump on Thursday, with their losses growing as the day progressed, with floods in central Greece and the postponement of the prime minister's speech in Thessaloniki not helping stocks recover. Friday's DBRS Morningstar credit rating report on Greece could change all that.

The majority of stocks at Athinon Avenue posted a moderate decline on Wednesday, as the bourse failed to build on its Tuesday recovery. There was little in the direction of selling but even less action among buyers, so most of the day's reduced turnover went toward bringing prices down.

The Greek stock market reacted after four consecutive sessions of decline to post significant gains on Tuesday, and on notable trading volume too. Traders appear to have taken for granted that DBRS Morningstar will this Friday restore Greece's investment grade rating, and if that does not materialize the bourse will likely take a nosedive as of Monday.

September began at Athinon Avenue with concerns expressed by traders after the first hour related to the global economy and the fear of stagflation. That led the benchmark to losses of almost 1% and a drop below the 1,300-point mark on Friday.

Greek stocks posted slight gains Tuesday but ended below 1,320 points after failing to hold on to early gains.

The ASE general index closed at 1,318.34 points, up 0.16%, having risen as high as 1,324.85 (0.65%) intrasession. Blue chips gained 0.29% and mid-caps 0.18%. Turnover was €90.81 million.

Electrical goods retailer Kotsovolos is up for sale by British group Currys and is seeing the number of potential suitors growing by the week.

Interested parties should express their interest by early August, so they can gain more information on the British-owned chain in late September. Currys is said to be hoping for a conclusion by the end of the year.

Concerns over Greek tourism, given the forest fires on Rhodes and Corfu, put an end to the rising streak of the Athens stock market on Monday, with the indexes suffering small losses and the losing stocks outnumbering the gainers, on reduced turnover too. Still, Aegean Airlines recorded a new historic high on the day.

In the last couple of hours of Monday's session the Greek stock market succumbed to pressure from a combination of factors that sent prices lower: The underperforming Chinese economy, the decline of other eurozone bourses and the significant losses of Coca-Cola HBC, the market's biggest stock, conspired to inflict significant losses on the Athinon Avenue benchmark that came off Friday's nine-ye

The lowest daily turnover of the last six weeks did not prevent the benchmark of the Greek stock market from rising to yet another nine-year high on Tuesday, even without the support of bank stocks. This time it was mid-caps that stole the show, boosting the main index and expanding the options of the few buyers that engaged in trading in Athens on what was a holiday in the US.