Lately, there’s been a fair wind blowing through the Greek stock market, with buyers comfortably prevailing for the fourth consecutive day, bringing the General Index back on the path of records and even closing near the day’s high.
Specifically, during Monday’s session (22/4), the General Index made a jump of 27.78 points or 1.99%, closing at 1,420.40 points, fluctuating between 1,399.34 (the day’s low) and 1,420.44 points (the day’s high). This move pushed it at least 60 points away from the two-month low of 1,357.30 points reached last Tuesday.
Moreover, it narrowed the gap to -0.14% from the 1,422.35 points of March 28, re-entering the realm of monthly gains. Close by are the 1,434.87 points, the highest closing in 13 years. Over the last four days, the index has been on a rally of around +4.65%.
The rotation towards key players maintained the strong momentum in the domestic market, with banks taking the lead from heavyweights in high capitalization. However, this doesn’t mean that blue chips were left behind, as buyers were active across the entire spectrum of the board. Among others, Eurobank, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank, OTE, Aegean, and Quest Holdings stood out.
Leveraging the recent outlook upgrade from Standard & Poor’s, which implies a possible upgrade of the credit rating over a period of 12-24 months, the Athens Stock Exchange displayed an even better performance today compared to the three previous bullish sessions. Positive catalysts for the ATHEX include the latest economic data, with the primary surplus projected to reach 1.9% of GDP by the end of 2023, compared to a forecast of 1.1%.
Although the previous week started with a two-day decline and massive sell-offs, while other markets remained calm, it ended in a completely opposite pattern. The ATHEX outperformed most foreign stock exchanges in the aftermath of the Israeli strike on Tehran on Friday (19/4), showing signs of resilience against geopolitical risk.
The buying spree is also attributed to strong results announced last week by certain companies, such as Jumbo, Lamda Development, Ellaktor, and ADMIE, with shares of all the above rallying following their announcements. Optimism is further fueled by news of new deals expected to reshape the country’s business landscape.
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The image abroad
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices on Wall Street have been on their longest losing streak since October 2022, declining for the sixth consecutive day on Friday. The S&P 500 completed three weeks of losses and dropped below the psychological threshold of 5,000 points. Similarly, the tech-heavy index recorded its worst weekly performance since November 2022, concluding the fourth consecutive 5-day decline. However, today marks the time for Wall Street to react, although for now, it appears to be weak.
European markets are showing strong movements, with the UK’s FTSE 100 and Spain’s IBEX 35 leading with gains of over 1%. Italy’s FTSE MIB is keeping a distance, experiencing new declines. Portugal’s PSI is up by 2.7%. Major Asian markets are rebounding after Friday’s sell-off, with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the KOSPI in South Korea recording the strongest gains today.
A catalyst for the rise in the domestic market is the pleasant surprise from Standard & Poor’s, which upgraded the outlook of Greek credit from stable to positive, leaving open the possibility of an upgrade in the rating (BBB-) in the next evaluation by the American agency, scheduled for October 18. The positive outlook, as stated, reflects the improvement in public finances and the commitment to continue structural reforms. It is worth noting that S&P has already given our country an investment grade.
The current week is rich in announcements regarding the annual financial results of listed companies for 2023. Among others, we are expecting announcements from EYDAP, Intrakat, Thrace Plastics, and Space Hellas. Additionally, the cycle of announcements for the financial figures of the first quarter of this year has begun. Papoutsanis kicked it off, followed by Sarantis on April 24 and Mytilineos one day later (April 25). During Holy Week, Piraeus Bank and Athens International Airport (AIA) will announce their quarterly performances.