ATHEX: Battered bank stocks come up for air

Sellers took their collective foot off the gas on Wednesday, allowing bank stocks to recover somewhat after their extended drop, albeit on particularly thin trading volume. The Greek benchmark narrowly made it into the green at the closing auctions, but the majority of stocks, as well as the mid-cap and small-cap indices, recorded a decline.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 529.65 points, adding 0.47 percent to Tuesday’s 527.16 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.95 percent to end at 1,398.81 points. Mid-caps lost 0.20 percent and small-caps contracted 0.47 percent.

Banks had clearly been oversold in the last few days and their index staged a 4.43-percent rebound on Wednesday from Tuesday’s four-and-a-half-month low, led by Piraeus, which advanced 7.69 percent. Alpha climbed 4.41 percent, and Eurobank increased 3.85 percent.

Among the day’s other gainers were Terna Energy (up 3.66 percent) and Aegean Air (3.03 percent). Titan Cement dropped 2.70 percent.

In total 37 stocks reported gains, 46 took losses and 16 closed unchanged.

Turnover was the lowest of the last 56 sessions, amounting to just 36.8 million euros, down from Tuesday’s 45.6 million.

In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange declined 0.20 percent to close at 65.17 points.