Index

The banking sector shook off foreign and domestic concerns - related to the decline of US lender First Republic and the promise by main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras to nationalize National Bank of Greece if he comes to power - and swung to gains at the end of Wednesday's bourse session, leaving the benchmark with moderate gains.

Greek banks may have had a boost from Standard & Poor's ratings, but on the stock market they suffered significant losses on Tuesday that weighed heavily on the entire market. As a result, the benchmark at Athinon Avenue dropped below the 1,100-point mark, with just a handful of blue chips resisting the pressure.

The widely anticipated upgrading of Greece's outlook to "Positive" by Standard & Poor's on Friday was taken in the traders' stride in Monday's bourse session, with many of them engaging in some profit taking that focused on banks and construction companies. Turnover posted a considerable decline though.

The Greek bourse benchmark completed on Friday its fifth straight week of gains, with price growth for bank and construction stocks and pressure on refineries.

Thursday's bourse session at Athinon Avenue proved to be the second in a row with losses for most stocks, although in the closing auctions the main index contained its decline and the banks index actually swung into gains. Turnover dropped to the lowest level in almost two weeks, but Friday's session is expected to make up for it.

After 11 sessions of growth out of 11, the benchmark of the Greek stock markets settled on Wednesday for a moderate decline that left it exactly at 1,111.11 points. 

The Greek stock market returned from the Easter break with more appetite for growth, as on Tuesday its benchmark climbed for the 11th session in a row.

The Greek stock market has completed the first half of April without a single southbound session for its main index, as on Thursday, this week's last trading day, it posted further gains that sufficed to take it above the 1,100-point mark. A 10-session rising streak has not been seen since the summer of 2021.

The Greek stock market made it nine sessions of price growth in a row on Wednesday as most stocks registered moderate gains, although the main index again failed to surpass the psychologically significant 1,100-point milestone. It still climbed to a 40-day high and enjoyed the longest sequence of rising sessions in over 20 months.

Athinon Avenue returned to action on Tuesday after a four-day recess and rewarded those anticipating its reopening with a wholesome session of growth that boosted the benchmark by over 1.7% and pushed daily turnover above 100 million euros. However, the main index once again proved not ready to clear the 1,100-point bar.