The Stock Exchange received international pressure

of Alexandra Tombra

The Athens stock exchange also closed down today, which remains in a “defensive” position against sellers who want to reduce their exposure to risk, especially in the shadow of international turmoil.

In particular, the general index closed with a fall of 0.55% at 891.46 points, while today it moved between 897.99 points (+0.18%) and 891.05 points (-0.60%). The turnover amounted to 51.84 million euros and the volume to 23.39 million pieces, while 367.85 thousand pieces were traded through pre-agreed transactions.

The high-cap index closed down 0.57%, at 2,156.13 points, while the Mid Cap closed at -0.50% at 1,380.97 points. The banking index closed with losses of 1.23% at 592.35 points.

For the second session in a row, the ASE tried to absorb pressures coming mainly from abroad and related to speculation about the content of the speech of the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, on Friday in Jackson Hole.

The speech will be a critical test of the priorities and intentions of the world’s largest central bank, with the memory of last year’s statement about the transience of US inflation still haunting the Fed’s credibility.

Until then, of course, the market will monitor the political processes in Herodos Attikou, even in view of the parliamentary battle on Friday. Next Friday and in the Plenary Session of the Parliament, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the opposition parties will cross their… political swords on the surveillance case, in a fight – a dress rehearsal for the… hot, as expected, at all levels pre-election period.

However, the certified analyst Petros Steriotis characterizes the general index as “resilient”, as if he does not take into account the downward signals from the stock markets abroad, the course of the cost of ten-year government borrowing towards 4% and the climbing of the price of natural gas in a historic record on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, which is the reference contract for the European Union.

Time will tell if the ASE will continue to defend against external pressures, or if its current momentum will be a springboard to break above 900 points, if and when international equity risk-on sentiment resumes. In this context, in the short term we await with particular interest the reaction of investors to the Fed’s upcoming announcements regarding the plans to fight inflation and its connection with the risk of the US economy “plunging” into recession, according to Mr. Steriotis.

On the dashboard

On the board now, ELHA and Piraeus recorded losses of 2.33% and 2.02% respectively, while the drop was more than 1% in Mytilene, Ethniki, Titan, Sarantis, PPC, ADMIE, EYDAP and Terna Energy. Aegean, Eurobank, Alpha Bank, Quest, Coca Cola, Viohalco, GEK Terna and PPA were slightly down.

On the other hand, Hellenic Petroleum jumped 2.73%, with Jumbo and Ellactor following with +1.39% and +1.37% respectively. Motor Oil, OPAP, OTE and Lambda closed slightly higher.