FTSE

The Greek bourse suffered significant losses on Tuesday, with its benchmark dropping to a six-week low. The absence of any significant domestic corporate news and the anticipation of the verdict by the European Central Bank on Thursday appear to have inspired investors (including some institutional ones too) to sell, continuing last week's dominant trend.

The Greek bourse recovered on Monday from its week of losses to show some healthy gains for the majority of stocks and the benchmark at Athinon Avenue on a day with significantly reduced turnover, the lowest in a week. The question now is whether this rebound can be sustained, as the summer with the biggest corporate dividends in a decade has started.

May was the month when the benchmark of the Greek stock market temporarily topped the 1,500-point level to register a 13-year high, but on a monthly basis the year's fifth month recorded a decline of 1.15% after Friday's fresh losses at Athinon Avenue.

Signs displayed by some stocks that there might be a rebound of the Greek bourse on Thursday proved to be short-lived, with the benchmark reverting to red and staying there up to the session's closing, before Friday's closure for the month, the MSCI index restructuring and the verdict by Fitch on the Greek credit rating.

The decline of stocks continued on Wednesday at the Greek bourse, with the benchmark yielding significant ground as its drop accelerated and it closed at the lowest point of the day. It has also fallen to its lowest point in over a month. The announcement of the takeover of insurance company Europe Asfalistiki by Intracom led to a decline in the latter's price. 

The Greek stock market showed on Tuesday the phenomenon described in bourse jargon as "sell in May and go away," with stocks suffering losses, turnover remaining below the 100-million-euro mark for a second day in row, and only Coca-Cola HBC, which is less affected by domestic trends, containing the losses of the main and the blue chip index.

The Greek stock market opened the new week with a moderate advance for its main index that was mostly to be attributed to the growth of bank stock prices. On the contrary, the majority of stocks and the mid-cap index closed with a decline despite the very positive start to the day. Turnover was even lower than Friday's owing to the bank holiday in the US and the UK.

A few hours after the Dow Jones posted its biggest decline in percentage terms in a year at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, the Greek bourse reverted to a southward course on Friday, dropping further away from the 1,500-point milestone it had achieved last Monday. Traders may already be considering the upcoming verdict by Fitch in less than a week, on May 31.

Despite the drop of the blue chip index, the banks index, mid-caps, turnover and the majority of stocks on the Greek stock market on Thursday, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue managed to remain in positive territory by the closing, ending the short streak of the previous two days. That small rise is attributed mainly to energy stocks.

The Athens bourse on Wednesday remained on the downward course it started on Tuesday, coming off Monday's 13-year highs. This was in line with the negative mood in the rest of the eurozone's stock markets. Trading was dominated by the share packages of the Mytilineos group (just over 5% of its shares ahead of its London listing to come) that sent turnover soaring on the day.