The majority of stocks in the Greek bourse posted gains on Thursday, though the downward spiral of banks continued after a day’s respite, dragging blue chips and the main index lower in the end.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 788.06 points, declining by 0.84 percent from Wednesday’s closing figure of 794.72 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index contracted by 2.13 percent to close at 278.11 points, but mid-caps added 1.66 percent.

The index of bank stocks gave up 6.88 percent, with National Bank shedding 8.23 as its stock was not included after all in the MSCI Greece index. The inclusion of Cyprus Popular Bank in the MSCI Global Small Cap Index gave the stock of the Cypriot lender an 8.51 percent boost.

Piraeus Bank lost 8.09 percent, Alpha fell by 7.55 percent and Eurobank Ergasias gave up 7.12 percent.

Interestingly, blue chip Mytilineos moved up for the fifth session in a row, adding 1.96 percent on Thursday, while Motor Oil grew by 3.28 percent.

In total 72 stocks grew, 52 declined and 21 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 44.5 million euros, down from Wednesday’s 60.5 million.