EYDAP

The Athens and Thessaloniki water utility companies will return to public control after the forthcoming elections, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said.

"Water is and will remain a public good," Mitsotakis underlined, in an interview with private TV broadcaster SKAI.

The Greek stock market opened the week with a 2.1% decline in Monday's first few minutes, as a result of the shocking news of Credit Suisse's demise and takeover by fellow Swiss lender UBS, but stocks gradually began to recover and swung back into the black as the session progressed to close with moderate gains in their majority.

The Greek stock market came off the day's lows on Tuesday to contain its losses as a number of blue chips reacted after Monday's plunge to avoid a further decline that could have even put the 1,000-point level at risk for the market's benchmark.

The Greek stock market came off Wednesday's 101-month high to see its benchmark post a notable decline that was eventually smaller than its mid-session losses on Thursday. A late stop-loss reaction that culminated during the closing auctions arrested the decline of the main index, but losing stocks outnumbered the gainers by three to one.

The outlook for Greece's sovereign credit rating to return to investment grade and the 50-million-euro package of Mytilineos shares that changed hands on Monday gave a fresh boost to the Greek stock market at the beginning of the week, with its benchmark climbing to highs unseen in almost 11 months. This was the sixth consecutive session of gains for the bourse.

The Greek stock market's lowest trading volume of the last 13 sessions saw the benchmark suffer moderate losses on Thursday after three days of gains, as traders again appear reluctant to commit themselves to purchases until the picture regarding the coronavirus tempest clears.

Despite the early euphoria on most European markets after the peaceful inauguration of Joe Biden in Washington, which led Asian stocks higher too, the afternoon saw prices slide at Athinon Avenue, led by banks. Traders would have liked to hear some more concrete comments from the European Central Bank on Thursday other than Frankfurt's decision to stay put.

Thursday's bourse session was relatively quiet ahead of Friday's triple witching, with some selective profit-taking among blue chips. Stocks were split between winners and losers, with banks showing some significant fluctuations before settling for moderate losses.

Bank stocks and the rest of the Greek stock market appeared to be in two parallel universes on Wednesday, as the former suffered losses after days of growth, while the vast majority of listed companies enjoyed gains for another day, taking the benchmark higher.

The international buying spree that on Tuesday took the Dow Jones over 30,000 points in New York contributed to the Greek bourse's main index holding its ground and putting some distance between it and the 700-point mark, despite the profit-taking recorded by most bank stocks.