It has been a colourful week for the Athens Stock Exchange, with strong fluctuations but also a “happy end”, as the Ministry of Finance announced on Friday afternoon that the negotiations between Greece and troika had concluded positively, triggering a new upward surge.
The sharp rise on Tuesday had demonstrated the market’s need for reaction, after a four-day downward streak. Consolidation moves to secure short-term profits and the downgrade of Greece’s credit rating pushed the General Index lower by 2.46% (banks down by 2.28%) in the following two meetings, but Friday’s jump has counterbalanced losses.
With notices about the course of negotiations still pending, the General Index moved into positive territory throughout the trading session, but the announcement of a positive outcome triggered violent enhancing of turnover and sharp rise of profits.
"The mood was already positive today, but stocks really jumped on the news that the talks had concluded well," a local trader told Dow Jones Newswires. "Even though there were few details, the fact the talks didn΄t fail was taken as a positive sign."
The General Index closed with gains of 4.42% at 1,333.66 units, close to session’s high. The trading volume stood at 34.07 million units and the turnover amounted to €107.3 million (of which €6.84 million in pre-agreed trade). The Index recorded cumulative gains of 5.43% for the week, while 100 shares closed trading with gains, 42 declined and 139 remained unchanged.
Greek banks outperformed on Friday, ending at session’s high, at 1,036.66%, recording a jump of 8.87%. Banks extend profits for week to 12.63%.
Alpha Bank, Eurobank and MIG topped FTSE20, with profits of 12.86%, 11.40% and 11.11% respectively. Bank of Cyprus and Marfin Popular Bank rose by 9.57% and 7.94%, while Piraeus Bank and National Bank recorded profits of 7.84% and 7.80% respectively.
CAPITAL
