ATHEX: Stock prices go from strength to strength

After the Athens Exchange benchmark cleared the 500-point bar last week, it has embarked on a rally that has not been seen in over four months, with five consecutive days of growth fetching gains of 12.97 percent and taken the bank index 36.44 percent higher.

On Wednesday the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 535.78 points, adding 3.02 percent to Tuesday’s 520.08 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 3.56 percent to end at 146.28 points.

The market now anticipates the bailout review process will be broken up into stages, which would allow progress to be made. This, along with some very positive forecasts for the banking sector by HSBC that has brought a “buy” recommendation for local lenders’ chips with high target-prices, boosted the bank index by 9.93 percent on Wednesday.

Eurobank grew 14.04 percent, National rose 9.74 percent, Alpha advanced 9.55 percent and Piraeus Bank increased 6.67 percent. Coca-Cola HBC gave up 1.74 percent.

In total 72 stocks recorded gains, 33 took losses and 24 closed unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 98 million euros, up from Tuesday’s 67.7 million.

In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange climbed 1.20 percent to 67.60 points.