ATHEX: Stock index advances to 8-week high

Bank stocks were in great demand at Athinon Avenue on Monday, with all four systemic lenders seeing their prices rise and take the benchmark of the local bourse to an eight-week high, on remarkably robust daily turnover too.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 918.41 points, the highest since mid-November, adding 1.32% to Friday’s 906.48 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 1.55%, ending at 2,214.90 points.

The banks index jumped 3.90%, with Alpha rising 5.18%, National grabbing 3.41%, Eurobank earning 3.33% and Piraeus advancing 3.03%. Both the Eurobank and National stocks have now climbed to highs unseen since late 2019.

Jumbo collected 3.33%, Coca-Cola HBC improved 2.48% and ElvalHalcor increased 1.48%, while Public Power Corporation parted with 1.66%, OPAP declined 0.94% and Hellenic Petroleum gave up 0.79%.

In total 81 stocks posted gains, 36 took losses and 18 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 99.2 million euros, up from Friday’s €71.2 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange decreased 0.18% to close at 67.86 points.