Titan Cement

After Thursday's respite, sellers returned to the Greek stock market in force on Friday, resulting in losses for all blue chips except one and the benchmark closing at its lowest point since March 2017.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 658.97 points, shedding 2.57 percent from Thursday's 676.36 points. On a weekly basis it declined 4.73 percent.

The closing auctions at the end of Monday's trading session in Athens wiped out all the gains registered over the course of the day and took the benchmark back into negative territory. Trading volume was very low as traders remain skeptical about the local market.

News of the further easing of the capital controls and the continuing decline of Greek bond yields on Thursday helped the benchmark at Athinon Avenue remain above the 700-point mark for a second day in a row and notch up moderate gains in the process.

The Greek stock market made a remarkable recovery on Tuesday with the benchmark ending up just below the 700-point mark. The recent selling spree at Athinon Avenue, the decline in Greek bond yields and the relative euphoria on foreign markets set the stage for a stock surge but the relatively poor trading volume didn't give it the power required to clear the psychologically important level.

Trader disappointment on Monday over Moody's decision not to issue its verdict on the Greek economy last Friday, amid the general negative mood in markets due to the mutual tariffs on US and Chinese goods, put fresh pressure on most local stocks, with the low turnover mirroring investor reluctance.

The selling spree observed during the first few hours of trade on the Greek stock market on Thursday was reversed as the session went along, and the benchmark eventually recorded a second consecutive day of gains, although turnover remained below the 20-million-euro mark.

Coca-Cola HBC led the Greek stock index higher on Thursday as the biggest company listed in Athens enjoyed a rise of 3.50 percent, just as the majority of stocks headed lower. Turnover narrowly cleared the 30-million-euro bar.

Turnover struggled to top 20 million euros on Wednesday at Athinon Avenue, as on top of the recent stagnation in local trading, the US Independence Day holiday deprived the Greek stock market of some of the few remaining foreign traders. As a result the benchmark headed south again, while the banks index dropped for a sixth time in the last seven sessions.

The lowest daily turnover of the year at the Greek stock exchange confirmed more than just the beginning of the summer holiday in Athens on Monday; far from emerging from the crisis era, Athinon Avenue still appears to be a shallow market swayed by a few speculative moves. The benchmark at the day's low wiped out all of Friday's gains.

The Greek stock market tried to distinguish itself from its European peers, concerned about a trade war across the Atlantic, but eventually ended Tuesday with losses for the majority of its stocks. while traders are still keeping an eye on Thursday's Eurogroup.