The Greek stock market made its worst possible start, on a monthly and quarterly level, today (2/4), with sellers sharply “turning up” on their return from the short-day break due to the Catholic Easter.
With mid-cap stocks as negative protagonists, the Athens Avenue was caught in a “cyclone” of consolidating first quarter gains, which amounted to 10%. Pressure was applied across the “spectrum” of the board, with banks retreating for the fifth consecutive day, even losing much of this year’s gains.
The bearish “turnaround” of European stock markets, as well as the start in the red on Wall Street, had a detrimental effect, with market sentiment being negative overall.
The multi-year or historical highs justify the massive liquidations, as, especially in the domestic market, there has not been a convincing “wave” of relief that would give traders the opportunity to regroup.
More specifically, in Tuesday’s session, the General Index “plunged” 28.51 points or 2% to close at 1,393.84 points, having moved between 1,391.13 points (low of the day) and 1,423.72 points (high of the day). This is the second setback of the index this year below 1,400 points, following the -2.51 on March 11, when the GC closed at 1,391.26 points.
Among banks, Alpha Bank and Tr. Piraeus. In the high-cap stocks, a big drop was recorded, among others, by Hellaktor, Viohalco, Coca Cola, Mytilineos, Aegean, EYDAP and ElvalHalcor, while in the mid caps, PPA “sank” 7%, coming from a close at a 16-year high. Technical Olympic, Intracom Holdings, Intracom Holdings, Intrakat, HKE and Alumil followed.
Few stocks were rescued, such as OTE which gained 1%, with a ratio of 2 positive to 9 negative stocks on the board.
It should be noted that April started with the… left, but it is a month of important developments, in terms of the rearrangements that will take place in the indices of the Athens Stock Exchange.
The current month will decide the May restructuring, which will be based on the average April capitalization of the companies to be upgraded or… downgraded in the relevant categories.
Athens International Airport (AIA) is the absolute favourite for an upgrade to the ’25’, while Intrakat, PPA and Intralot are also in contention.
“Reddened shares and indices
Banks recorded a new drop, the fifth consecutive, with the sector index closing at -2.08% and 1,170.02 points, the lowest level since last January. Alpha Bank slipped -3.07% to €1.58, Piraeus (-2.79% to €3.768) was in line, followed by Ethnik (-1.87% to €7.12) and Eurobank (-0.95% to €1.765).
In the other two main indices, the FTSE 25 (high cap) fell by 1.95% to 3,353.65 points and the Mid Cap (mid cap) “sank” by 3.13% to 2,318.68 points.
March and first quarter performance
Lost in the details was the March sign for the Athens Exchange, as well as the double-digit quarterly rise. Under the “weight” of banks, which corrected more sharply than the other sectors, the General Index recorded subtle losses of 0.17% last month, which translates to just 2.42 points.
However, this was preceded by four consecutive months of gains, during which the stock market had cumulatively gained 19.42% (November 6.88% – December 1.41% – January 5.74% – February 4.19%).
In Q1 2024, the stock market “soared” by 9.99%, adding a total of 129.21 points in value since the beginning of the year. This is, in fact, the second consecutive profitable quarter, as it had gained 6.93% in Q2 2023. On a weekly basis, the GD declined by 0.20% in the three sessions held, as Athens Avenue was closed for the national holiday of March 25 and Good Friday for Catholics (29/3).
As for the other main indices, the banking index was down 1.86% for the week and slid 4.23% in March. Nevertheless, the first quarter ended ideally, as banks “took off” by 12.56%, or 133.29 points.
The FTSE 25 (high-cap) fell by 0.40% on a weekly basis, by 1.24% on a monthly basis, while moving up by 9.53% on a quarterly basis. Mid Cap (mid cap) lost 0.53% on the week, moved lower by 1.15% in March, but gained 6.35% in Q1.
Overseas losses and results
April and the second quarter got off to a corrective start in global markets, with the major Wall Street indices down more than 1% today, correcting from the historic highs they recently “hit”.
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It is worth noting that the US stock market is coming off 5 months of consecutive uptrends and record quarterly performance, so the current picture is considered reasonable.
A new “jump” is being recorded in bond yields, with investors “betting” on a June rate cut by the Fed, but they have every reason to be concerned about possible delays.
Mixed signals on Asian bourses, with the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rallying on a technology-led push. Bullish trends prevailed in euro markets, with the scene changing radically along the way, with Germany’s DAX and Italy’s FTSE MIB leading the decline.