Economic indicators

The rising streak on the Greek bourse was interrupted on Thursday by profit-taking from investors, who led the benchmark and blue chips south after five sessions of growth, although mid- and small-caps enjoyed gains.

Bank stocks on Wednesday built on Tuesday's momentum to jump more than 5 percent on a day with a more respectable turnover at the local stock market. This was the fifth straight day of advance for the benchmark at Athinon Avenue, a record unseen in the last eight months.

Investor confidence appears to be returning gradually to local banks, with their stocks outperforming on Tuesday on the Athens bourse and the market's benchmark climbing for a fourth consecutive day - a performance unseen since October. Persistently low turnover shows that it only takes a handful of buyers to sway the market's course.

The Greek stock market managed to hang on to its morning gains and bring an end to its six-day losing streak yesterday, with the benchmark ending the session near its day high. However, low turnover and the general weakness in investor moves suggested that Wednesday's rise was merely technical rather than anything substantial.

Greek stocks slipped on Monday for the fifth session in a row, suggesting that the previous Monday's major gains were a mere blip. Turnover was particularly low, pointing to the unlikelihood of a year-end rally, given that there are only 12 sessions left to go in 2018.

Bank stocks fell to new lows on Monday, with their index reaching levels unseen since February 2016. The benchmark of the Greek bourse continued to sink closer to the 600-point mark, which is seen as the last line of defense before a more extensive selling spree.

As the market awaits the formal announcement of the new composition of the MSCI stock indexes on Tuesday, pressure on most blue chips - especially those in the credit sector - led the benchmark at Athinon Avenue lower on Monday, with turnover climbing above 50 million euros.

The main feature of the week's last session at Athinon Avenue was very low trading volume - aside from prearranged packages - with a few buyers taking the benchmark's weekly gains to almost 4 percent.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 643.42 points, adding just 0.43 percent to Thursday's 640.67 points. On a weekly basis it improved 3.88 percent.

Denis Zvizdic, the chair of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Council of Ministers, painted an optimistic picture in his speech to the Sarajevo Unlimited regional forum on Tuesday, saying that regional cooperation and networking would help young entrepreneurs find their place on the global market.

The sharp decline of Motor Oil stock and renewed selling of bank stocks led the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) benchmark to a new 20-month low on Thursday as it registered its biggest daily decline in 13 months.

The ATHEX general index ended at 619.32 points, shedding 3.25 percent from Wednesday's 640.15 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 2.96 percent to 1,633.79 points.