Rebound is not expected to last long on the local bourse
The Greek bourse ended last week on a high but it is not expected to continue in an upward direction given the lack of confidence in the local economy and debt-restructuring scenarios.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed on Friday at 1,434.65 points, gaining 2.39 percent on Thursday?s closing, and just 0.23 from the end of the previous week. The blue-chip ATHEX/FTSE 20 index gained 3.11 percent from Thursday, to start the new week at 649.13 points.
Analysts see a reaction by bank stocks to their decline to new year-lows, but the turnover is too small to lead to safe conclusions.
On Friday banks led the way among blue chips, with Eurobank adding a considerable 10.79 percent and Alpha Bank gaining 7.07 percent. Mytilineos rose by 4.87 percent, Jumbo jumped 4.81 percent, Piraeus grew by 4.76 percent, Hellenic Postbank expanded by 4.69 percent and Bank of Cyprus climbed by 4.68 percent.
National Bank closed at 5.24 euros, with daily gains of 4.18 percent from its year-low of 5.03 euros on Thursday.
The only blue chip to suffer losses on Friday was OPAP (down 0.97 percent).
Turnover came to just 64.7 million euros on Friday, illustrating the waiting stance that major investors are maintaining.
