Two-day breather in all 800 units of the Stock Exchange

The Athens Stock Exchange took a breather today, which with good performances over the last two days managed to cover a large part of Tuesday’s fall, but with buyers remaining focused on specific titles, an element that caused problems.

In particular, the General Index closed with an increase of 0.87% at 802.16 points, while today it moved between 797.70 points (+0.31%) and 805.63 points (+1.31%). The turnover amounted to 85.1 million euros and the volume to 70.7 million pieces, while 34.7 million pieces were traded through pre-agreed transactions.

The activity was intense today also through packages, with the four banking stocks leading the way having traded more than 34 million pieces, worth 31 million euros, i.e. 1/3 of the total turnover.

The high capitalization index closed with gains of 1.10%, at 1,921.06 points, while the Mid Cap ended trading at +0.24% at 1,304.74 points. The banking index closed with an increase of 3.91% to 484.20 points.

For the week, the General Index closed down 0.45%, while the FTSE 25 fell 0.43%. The banking index closed down 2.28%.

A break for breaths

This year’s new lows activated buying reflexes aligning the domestic market with the trend of foreign markets, reports M. Hatzidakis of Beta Securities. Buyers returned to a time point that can be considered neutral from macroeconomic announcements correcting some of the strong bearish distortions that had been observed.

The risk has not changed, it’s just that its integration may have led to some exaggerations, which will soon be assessed accordingly by investors. The Greek banks received a first such assessment after the encouraging messages from the Piraeus Bank teleconference.

Readings of profitability holding at the level of management’s initial estimates triggered a more massive move to the upside in the banking sector which is a trend-setting benchmark anyway. Possibly, at the end of the week, expectations for a positive development from tonight’s Fitch assessment, which is two steps away from investment grade, were incorporated.

Be that as it may, in a climate of attrition and intense caution a little bit of good news can make a difference. The break from the negatively charged news brought to the surface business deals or potential deals that had probably been on the back burner. Also, the image of the market brought out more strongly the element of opportunity in shares with a significant special weight beyond the banks, thus spreading the liquidity in the system.

Technical picture

Technically, the General Index honored the undervalued oscillator zones on the daily level and started a bullish reaction which at first sight has good technical specifications in intensity and structure. The progressive increase in transactions was another good news for buyers.

The return of the General Index above 800 points did not change anything except the strongly negative picture of the oscillators which returned to neutral trading levels. Graphically, the change in the bearish course of the index will be challenged on a consolidation and escape from the level of 840 points, which marks the immediate first resistance, 50% of the upward correction from the highs of 901 points and the breakdown of the moving average of 30 days. The coming week may continue higher, but the question remains the trading vitality in order to maintain the momentum and to absorb profit taking movements, Mr. Hatzidakis estimates.

On the dashboard

On the board now, Alpha Bank closed with gains of 6.52%, with Eurobank and Piraeus following with +3.95% and +3.17% respectively. Above 2% was the increase in ELHA, Coca Cola and Lambda and above 1% in Titan, Aegean and Ethniki. Viohalko, PPC, Sarantis, PPA and ADMIE were slightly up.

On the other hand, Hellenic Petroleum and Quest closed with losses of 3.14% and 3.06% respectively, with OPAP closing at -1.07%. Terna Energy, Motor Oil, OTE, GEK Terna and Mytileneos closed slightly lower, with EYDAP and Ellactor closing unchanged.