ATHEX: Stock market downturn speeding up

The Greek stock market has now chalked up four declining sessions out of four so far in November, only on Wednesday the closing auctions failed to rein in the losses incurred by the benchmark. The banks index took quite a hit, tumbling almost 5 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 859.81 points, shedding 1.55 percent from Tuesday's 873.34 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 1.75 percent to 2,128.76 points, while the small-caps index added 0.04 percent.

The banks index declined 4.83 percent, with Eurobank parting with 5.21 percent, National losing 4.92 percent, Alpha sliding 4.58 percent and Piraeus decreasing 4.55 percent.

Other losers included Ellaktor (down 2.33 percent), Jumbo (2.11 percent), Titan Cement (1.75 percent) and Hellenic Exchanges (1.66 percent). Hellenic Petroleum bucked the trend, climbing 1.28 percent.