GEK Terna

Mid- and small-caps on Wednesday served to maintain the upward trajectory of the Greek bourse benchmark, which completed its sixth consecutive session of expansion, albeit marginally, despite blue chips and bank stocks heading south.

The Goldman Sachs comment on Wednesday afternoon that the Greek economy will stay strong despite any political turmoil, and even regain investment grade in three weeks' time, helped the Greek stock market secure gains on Wednesday, even if it had struggled to keep pace with the rest of its eurozone peers. Moody's positive outlook of the local credit sector also helped.

Tuesday was a day of healthy gains on the Greek stock market, reminiscent of the sessions of high growth in the first couple of months of 2023. Assurances by domestic and foreign experts over the strength of the local credit system offered a major boost to bank stocks that led blue chips to a significant rebound.

The Greek banking sector reacted to the huge external pressure from the closure of two lenders in the United States, as its index on the Athens Stock Exchange rebounded from a decline of almost 5% on Monday to end the session with gains of approximately 1% - even if the rest of the market failed to follow suit.

The rebound expected on Thursday at the Greek stock market, following five consecutive days of decline, did materialize, but the benchmark closed some way from its day-highs.

The US Fed and European Central Bank rate hikes went largely according to expectations, so eurozone stock markets, including Greece's, proceeded smoothly on Thursday with sessions of mild gains.

January ended at the Greek stock market with 10.01% growth for the main index, after it suffered a minor decline on Tuesday in a mixed session. While some fellow eurozone bourses took heavier losses on the day, Athinon Avenue saw its expected profit-taking to be small and targeted, while banks enjoyed another day of price gains.

After a day's respite, the Greek stock market returned to its upward course on Friday, with the benchmark covering some of its Thursday losses on its way toward the 1,000-point mark.

The main index at Athinon Avenue came off its eight-year peak on Thursday with a significant drop that bore the marks of profit-taking, but with a significant trading volume that showed interest remains considerable in the local bourse. This was only the second session of decline for the benchmark of the local stock market since the start of the year.

The constant march higher of Greek stocks continued on Wednesday, on a considerably increased turnover thanks to a number of business deals that not only increased the trading volume but also further fed the optimism among investors for medium-term gains. More than half of the day's turnover took place during the closing auctions.