The Greek stock market closed Monday’s (21/10) session with losses, but far from the daily lows. Interest was monopolized by Attica Bank, whose trading was temporarily suspended a few minutes after it returned to the board, following a short-day trading halt due to the 100:1 reverse split. The extreme fluctuations resulted in the stock remaining “frozen” from 12:00 until 16:00 when it was given the green light to renegotiate.

Specifically, in today’s session the General Index fell by 4.85 points or -0.34% to close at 1,438.72 points, having moved between 1,432.27 (low of the day) and 1,445.11 points (high of the day). In doing so, it put an end to the 4-day rally that had boosted the GD by +2.27%. Within October, the index is down -0.91%, and since the beginning of this year, it has strengthened by +11.26%.

Regarding Attica Bank, today the share was reintroduced to the board along with the right to increase the share capital. However, the extreme rise of the share from the adjusted price of EUR 0.524 to EUR 20 (+3,716.79%) resulted in the decision to suspend it again. The return to trading took place about 1 hour and 20 minutes before the end of the session, ending at 7.02% with a rise of +1,239.69% and a turnover of just over 15 thousand euros.

Banks were the focus of today’s liquidation, with Eurobank sliding more than -2% and Alpha Bank losing around -1.5%. Conversely, OTE, although initially correcting in the wake of “climbing” to a two-year high, then “absorbed” the shocks and remained near record levels and above 16 euros.

Next stop 9-month results

The domestic market is still trying to “digest” the liquidity pressures from the recent capital increases, placements, and bond issues. Globally, investors are weighing up encouraging corporate earnings announcements on both sides of the Atlantic during the past week, at a time when the geopolitical backdrop in the Middle East is deteriorating.

We have a premiere this week in terms of the 9-month results releases of the listed companies on the Xetra. Papoutsanis will start on Tuesday 22 October, followed by Sarantis on Wednesday 23 October and Metlen on Thursday 24 October. Without the right to dividends of EUR 0.179 and EUR 0.036 per share, Alpha Trust Andromeda and Moda Bagno are traded as of today.

It should be noted that Standard and Poor’s has postponed its rating of the Greek economy, maintaining the rating at “BBB-” with a positive outlook. S&P remains the only agency among the big 3 (along with Fitch and Moody’s) that gives a positive outlook on Greece and has already “upgraded” it to investment grade. The next “stations” are Fitch (BBB- with a stable outlook) on November 22 and Scope Ratings on December 6 (BBB- with a positive outlook).

International markets recover after record highs

Last week ended with a double record on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs. The US market is counting a 6-week winning streak, marking the longest streak of weekly increases within 2024. Today’s session started with a mild correction, although the tech Nasdaq managed to “escape” with a +0.3% gain.

Europe’s major bourses are down, with the Stoxx 600 trading -0.3%. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 are down -0.6%. The UK’s FTSE 100 follows at -0.1%. Gold “climbed” to a new all-time high, trading above $2,750 per ounce.

A mixed picture and mild changes were seen in Asian markets, with investors “weighing” a 25 basis point cut in China’s key interest rate. The Shenzhen Component rose +1.1%, while in contrast, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped -1.6%.