Standard & Poor

As global markets hold their collective breath ahead of Thursday’s referendum in Scotland, investors chose to abstain from the local bourse as well on Monday, with the third-lowest daily trading volume of the year to date. Today’s treasury bill auction will likely mean another day of little action for Greek stocks.

Standard & Poor’s raised Greece’s credit rating one notch on Friday, from B- to B, acknowledging the fiscal endeavors made by the country.

It maintained Greece’s outlook as stable.

"We expect recovering real and nominal GDP will enable Greece to operate average primary surpluses of 2 percent of GDP during 2014-17,» S&P said in a statement.

Government officials described the process of reopening Greek three- and five-year bonds to replace existing treasury bills as “very successful” on Thursday.

Unmoved by the prospect of a likely credit rating upgrade for Greece by Standard & Poor’s on Friday, investors in local stocks were rather bearish on Thursday, while the trading volume was the lowest observed in the last eight sessions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 1,166.60 points, shedding 0.36 percent from Wednesday’s 1,170.85 points.

Despite talk that Greece’s credit rating is set for an upgrade by Standard & Poor’s, along with estimates that the local credit sector won’t face any additional requirements following the stress tests, the local stock market sustained significant losses on Tuesday, with banks being the worst hit.

One of the world’s top credit rating agencies, Fitch Ratings has lowered Croatia’s long-term credit rating in foreign currency from BB+ to BB, lowering its domestic currency rating from BBB- to BB+.

Standard & Poor’s has given Croatia a BB rating since the start of the year. Croatia’s rating with Moody’s remains BB+.

The Standard & Poor’s report on Greek banks inflicted fresh losses on their respective stocks and sealed the benchmark’s end-of-week fate, as it posted the biggest weekly drop of 2014, giving up 7.35 percent from last Friday.

By Lucy Meakin and Neal Armstrong

The advance in euro-area government bonds that pushed the 10-year yields of Ireland, Italy and Spain to record lows today is about to end, according to investors from BlueBay Asset Management LLP to BlackRock Inc.

 Agency chose not to revise Greece’s credit rating, retaining the country’s ‘selective default’ status

By Sotiris Nikas

Moody’s rating agency may not have changed its rating for Greece on Friday, but the markets did not appear inclined to wait for its announcement to display their own confidence in the country’s economy.