Alpha and Piraeus maintain ascent with eyes on Paris

Last updated at 14:00

By Manos Haschladakis

The Athens market is moving steadily higher but without any buying waves in early July, benefiting from the improving climate in Europe after the French elections.

In particular, the general index moved to 1,415.6 points, with gains of 0.8%, and trading volume reached 47 million euros, while 12 million pieces were traded.

The banks index led the rise with a 2% jump, the FTSE rose 1.1%, followed by the FTSEM mid-cap index up +0.55%.

As June closed, the market had completed two consecutive months of decline, however it entered the second half of the year with significant gains, with the DG up 8.6% and the FTSE up 8.95%, while the Banks index stood out with +14.3%.

On the international political front, and specifically in France, where investors have recently focused their attention, Marine Le Pen’s far-right party came in first, as expected, in yesterday’s early parliamentary elections, but by a narrow margin that leaves the door open. This round represents the second round and shows that it will be difficult to gather a majority in the country’s parliament.

In light of this atmosphere, the French stock market appears “comfortable” by maintaining an increase of more than 2%, with banks leading the way, which gave a boost to the rest of the indices, especially the European region, with Athens trying to benefit from the crisis. Situation.

However, caution on Athens Avenue is still evident, as evidenced by the moderate trading volume and by the fact that the positive climate does not seem to lead to any bullish wave but is limited to rising within a limited range.

Picture on the dashboard

As is the case at the European level, banks have the first say, with Piraeus and Alpha standing out with jumps exceeding 3%.

It should be noted that this is the second consecutive rise for Alpha after +4.1% on Friday in the wake of Moody’s upgrade to investment grade after 14 years.

More discreetly but with notable gains, the National Bank and the European Bank followed with increases of about 1% each.

With trading volume significantly down, Stasinopoulos Group shares were also energized during the day, with Elvalhalcor now up 4.3%, followed by parent Viohalco +2.7%.

Additional momentum is provided by OTE at +1.3% and ELPE at +1.6%, OPAP moves at +0.8% and PPC at +0.6%, while gains above 1% are also Sarantis and Ellaktor but with small turnovers.

Mitlin, Jumbo, Coca-Cola and Aegean shares are moving slightly higher with gains of up to 0.5%.

On the other hand, limited sellers are focusing on Lambda and Titan over the 25-year period, which are moving with losses of 1.6% and 1.3% respectively, while GEK TERNA and Motor Oil are marginally “in the red”.

Among mid-cap stocks, ADMIE and Optima stand out with gains of 1.1% and Intracom which rose 3%, while Intralot fell slightly by 0.2%.

In the lower tiers, Revoil stands out with a jump of 3.4% and a high turnover of 255 thousand euros.

Across the board, buyers have a clear lead, with 65 stocks advancing versus 45 declining.

On the technical level, Ilias Zacharakis of Fast Finance points out that the 1,400 maintenance is ongoing, however, sellers have managed not to let any security cause an upward movement, which is in return suitable for some who were waiting for a correction to position themselves.

According to him, the new important data is the stop point that dropped to 1,435 units at the close of the day, while any securing of the 1,400 area alone could give the move to the 1,372 level. Mr. Zacharakis points out that our oscillator is in a launch mode waiting for a bullish catalyst.

International image

In Europe, as mentioned above, the French CAC 40 index stands out with gains now of 1.6%, the Italian FTSE MIB is also moving to +1.6% and the Spanish IBEX is up 1%, while the German DAX is slightly higher by 0.4%, and the British DAX is up 1.6%. By 0.4%. The FTSE 100 rose 0.25% and the European Stoxx 50 rose +0.9%.

However, in the bond market, the yield on French 10-year bonds rose to 3.325% and German more strongly to +2.568%, while the yield on Greek bonds rose to 3.746%.

The US futures market is showing slightly bullish trends, with Dow Jones futures up at +0.19%, S&P 500 futures at +0.15% and Nasdaq futures at +0.16%.

However, at the same time, US bond yields are moving higher, with 10-year yields at 4.416% and 2-year yields at +4.754%.

Finally, in oil, buyers have the initiative but with little progress, Brent at $85.4 per barrel and WTI at $81.9 with gains in the region of 0.4% for both contracts.