EYDAP

Reserved trade saw turnover dip to less than 75 million euros at the Greek bourse on Thursday and although the banks index posted a marginal drop the benchmark managed to recover its morning losses to end up well in the green.

The market?s fatigue with Athens?s inability to conclude an agreement with the country?s creditors and the growing prospect of a referendum that government officials are pointing to resulted in fresh losses during Monday?s bourse session as investors expected nothing concrete from the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels.

The telephone call between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker turned things around at the Greek bourse on Wednesday, with morning losses giving way to afternoon gains. The benchmark closed near the day?s high, back above the 800-point level.

Optimists came out on top at the end of Thursday?s Athens bourse session, as the positive signs from the meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to have give the negotiation process a boost. It was the second consecutive day of gains for the benchmark, although trading volume slipped below 100 million euros.

The benchmark of the Greek bourse on Tuesday recorded a new 31-month low as many investors appear to be disengaging themselves from the ominous conditions of the local market.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 704.74 points, shedding 3.33 percent from Monday?s 728.98 points.

Bank stocks continued their decline on Thursday, but that was not enough to force more losses on the Athens bourse benchmark, which gained more than 1 percent thanks to the closing auctions in a rather indifferent market, as the constantly low trading volume reveals.

Counterterrorism officers investigating the apparent links between November 17 convict Christodoulos Xeros and jailed members of Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire believe a plot of land in Neo Peramo, close to Elefsina, served as a bomb-testing area for members of guerrilla groups.

 Social security funds reluctant to help out

By Sotiris Nikas & Roula Salourou

The government has called on major public corporations, including utilities, to invest their cash reserves in state debt, along the lines of the proposal made to social security funds and other state entities.

Perpetual warnings about an ?accident? and threats of a Greek referendum continued to aggravate the mood in the local economy on Friday, as reflected in the Athens stock market, which lost over 3 percent.