ATHEX: Bank stocks down 81 pct since January

The benchmark of the Greek stock market edged higher on Wednesday, despite the banks index posting fresh losses of 7.54 percent, while trading volume approached but failed to clear the 30-million-euro mark. It’s now been three months since the capital controls were imposed, with traders yet to see any significant easing.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 654.20 points, adding 0.60 percent to Tuesday’s 650.33 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.15 percent to end at 189.77 points.

Notably the banks index has lost 81.7 percent of its value in the year’s first nine months, while the main index has declined 20.1 percent in the same period.

National led the bank chips south on Wednesday, dropping 11.29 percent, as Piraeus Bank fell 7.14 percent and Eurobank shrank 4.35 percent. Motor Oil outperformed, growing 8 percent, followed by EYDAP (up 3.45 percent) and Ellaktor (2.68 percent).

In total 37 stocks reported gains, 38 suffered losses and 25 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 29.2 million euros, up from Tuesday’s 23.4 million.