Stocks gaining more ground
The first week after the general elections had two different aspects, as the general index flirted with and temporarily passed the 5,000-point mark, only to close the week just below it. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 4,996.48 points on Friday, a gain of 134.69 points, or 2.77 percent, on the week. The Monday and Tuesday sessions were dominated by selective placements with foreign portfolios confirming their confidence in the local market after the second electoral victory of the ruling conservative party. On Wednesday Athens followed the rally seen in the rest of Europe after the Fed’s decision to cut its interest rate by 50 basis points. The small decline on Thursday was offset by a fresh rise on Friday. It is clear that the market is waiting for the dust to settle globally, as sky-high oil prices and the euro’s appreciation against the dollar, coupled with record highs of gold, nickel and copper, create an explosive atmosphere and threaten the balance of markets. Last week was quite poor in terms of business news; the most important being a venture set up in Bulgaria by Kalpinis-Simos and the first order for the new consortium of Corinth Pipeworks in Russia. Among sectoral indices, insurance and utilities outperformed with gains of 9.17 percent and 9.08 percent respectively. Commerce stocks were not far behind with growth of 8.78 percent. The only index to record losses was that of food and drinks, which declined by 2.02 percent. The sales volume recorded significant growth from the previous week, approaching half a billion euros per session.
