Back to normal for the Greek stock exchange, a day after it was knocked out due to a technical problem that caused intense disruption in the investment community. The General Index was at 1,700 points for the first time since February 2011, with investors content to make selective moves. Profit taking in banks, with the sectoral index retreating in a controlled manner, although Alpha Bank (9-year) and Piraeus (4-year) extended their multi-year records.

Specifically, in Tuesday’s (18/3) session, the General Index gained 9.06 points or +0.53% to close at 1,705.16, with a daily high of 1,708.05 and a daily low of 1,694.86. The next milestone for the index is the 1,715.13 points of February 18, 2011. Within March the HA gains +6.06% and within 2025 it moves higher by +16.02%. At even higher than the already increased levels of the last few days, turnover and packages were formed, mainly due to the unexecuted transactions from yesterday’s black out.

Between the outperformance of Piraeus – Alpha Bank and the correction of ETE – Eurobank, the banking sector balanced today, which had another protagonist outside the systemic ones. The reason is Attica Bank, which recorded a +7% “jump” to 0.8 euros, boosted by the Moody’s upgrade. “Explosive” was also the rally for Lavipharm and Alumil, while Space Hellas recorded a double-digit rise. On the other hand, Sarantis made a “dip” of -5% correcting after a 7-year record of 13+ euros.

Repeated upgrades from Moody’s

After assigning an investment grade to the Greek economy, Moody’s upgraded three Greek banks, namely National Bank, Eurobank (both to Baa1 from Baa2, with a stable outlook) and Attica Bank (to Ba2 from B1, with a positive outlook). Alpha Bank (Baa2 with a positive outlook) and Piraeus (Baa2 with a stable outlook) were next in line today. The banking sector remains in the spotlight as Morgan Stanley’s three-day road show in London starts today, where the managements of Greek banking groups will meet the largest funds internationally. The banking index is down slightly -0.2% today, with Attica Bank recording a “jump” of more than +7% to €0.8, with a turnover of more than €3.5 million, as it receives a strong boost from Moody’s upgrade.

Piraeus Bank’s business plan for the period 2025-2028 was presented to analysts yesterday by its management. The focus was on the acquisition of Ethnikis Insurance. At the same time, bank executives said that red loans (NPEs) are on track to fall below €1 billion by 2026, with no further significant transactions planned. Meanwhile, pre-registrations have opened for Snappi, Piraeus’ neobank (digital bank), ahead of its official launch, expected in Q2 2025. According to the business plan, Snappi aims to reach €2.5 billion in deposits, €600 million in loans and 1.9 million customers by 2028.

On the corporate results front, all the lights are on OPAP, which will announce its financial performance for fiscal 2024 tomorrow. Alpha Trust Andromeda is chronologically ahead, which will make announcements this afternoon. Lavipharm will publish its flash note on Wednesday (19 March), followed by TERNA Energy on Thursday (20 March).

The chronicle of the black out

The records set by Athens Avenue in yesterday’s … half session took a back seat, the first one since Moody’s investment grade upgrade, paving the way for an upgrade from emerging to developed markets. At 14:41 the HA suffered a total collapse and did not recover until the clearing was done and the closing prices were calculated at 17:20. In an informal update before the official close of trading was declared, the HSE cited a technical problem in the OASIS system and decided to suspend trading until the malfunction was resolved.

In an official statement that followed about three hours later, the Athens Exchange Group’s management informed about the resolution of the technical problem, stressing that its cause was traced to a technical hardware malfunction that affected the trading system infrastructure. He clarified that today’s meeting will be held normally and that all necessary measures have been taken to avoid the recurrence of the problem.

This was preceded by a briefing from circles in the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, who said that the issue detected in the electronic trading system of the HA was due to increased traffic. They added that a special team specialized in technological issues will study the digital capabilities and will undertake the upgrade of all systems of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and its supervised entities, which include the Athens Stock Exchange.