Index

The Greek bourse reacted calmly on Tuesday to the result of the presidential vote in Parliament, which while seeing a rise in support for the government’s candidate was still some way off the result required in next Monday’s third and final vote. The majority of stocks posted small losses on a day of poor turnover ahead of the Christmas recess.

Posting the lowest trading volume in 15 sessions, it was clear at the Greek stock exchange on Monday that investors were waiting for Tuesday’s presidential vote in Parliament, while the small increases registered by the majority of stocks showed that the market is still keeping its collective cool.

Weekly gains on the Greek bourse came to 4.60 percent after a session during which the benchmark temporarily climbed 1.7 percent, driven by growth in New York and the December triple witching, before following the rest of the eurozone markets and registering losses of more than 1 percent.

It was a rollercoaster ride of a session at the Greek bourse on Thursday. Despite the additional concern in the market generated by the result of the first vote for a new president late on Wednesday, the local benchmark managed to recovered from afternoon losses of more than 3 percent to close with gains of almost 1.5 percent, along the lines of other European bourses.

Non-banking chips led the local stock index to a significant recovery on Wednesday before the first vote for a new president took place, with traders buying into the optimistic scenario from the government camp that “it will be alright on the night” of the third vote on December 29.

A late selling spree on the Greek bourse day had turned profits into losses by closing time, as traders remained nervous ahead of Wednesday’s first vote for the new president in Parliament. Early signs that the tide could be turning in favor of the government’s presidential candidate Stavros Dimas are still too small to create a winning momentum and appease the markets.

A slight improvement in the coalition government’s poll ratings and in its chances to gather the votes needed for a president to be elected later this month following positive statements by a number of independent deputies, has started to shift the mood on the local market after last week’s sell-off, leading to a small recovery on Monday.

Inflation has returned to its negative values in November, when the index of consumer prices decreased with 0.4 % compared to October.

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Sellers had the final word during the last session of the bourse’s worst week of the year, as signs in the morning that the benchmark could recover some of the ground lost in previous days came to nothing, with the majority of stocks suffering fresh losses, albeit small in most cases.

Black Tuesday’s sell-off continued during early trade on Wednesday at the Athens bourse, with the benchmark down more than 4 percent at one point. However, most stocks managed to contain their losses, and gains by some of the previous day’s biggest losers, including MIG and PPC, limited the damage to a drop of just 1 percent at the end of the session.