Buyers on the Stock Exchange collapsed in the end

In the auctions the sellers finally had their last word and from +0.68% in the main session they managed to close the General Index marginally lower, choosing their orders very precisely to continue the downward streak.

In particular, the General Index closed with a fall of 0.06% at 779.20 points, while today it moved between 779.20 points (-0.06%) and 792.22 points (+1.61%). The turnover amounted to 77.2 million euros and the volume to 42 million pieces, while 1.1 million pieces were traded through pre-agreed transactions.

The high capitalization index closed with an increase of 0.18%, at 1,857.60 points, while the Mid Cap ended trading at +0.53% at 1,258.48 points. The banking index closed with an increase of 0.86% to 446.95 points.

Looking for reaction…

After five consecutive sessions down, the ASE could have made a better reaction, which not only did not come today, but the final picture left many would-be buyers with a bitter taste. In this, of course, if one considers that since June 22 it has had only one positive session, and that with only 0.09% gains on June 28, then today’s picture is even more disappointing.

And all this while the Prime Minister in Parliament did not make any pre-election allusion, and HSBC upgraded its forecasts for the Greek economy. In fact, HSBC emphatically stated today that there will be no slowdown in growth in Greece. In fact, it proceeded with a significant upward revision of its forecasts thanks to the strong tourism activity, now estimating that the growth of the Greek GDP will reach 6.5% this year from the 4% it predicted before, while it lowers the bar for growth in 2023, to 3.5% from 4% previously. As for inflation, he puts it at 9.2% this year from the 6.5% he previously forecast, while in 2023 he estimates it will drop to 3.9% (from 2% previously).

The weak link

After yesterday’s 9% plunge, the banking industry today tried to recoup some of the losses, but confidence is still very low, despite the attractive valuations it has retreated to. And this picture comes at a time when the four groups have made a huge leap in the quality of their financials and under the positive news of higher interest rates that will lead them to improve net interest income, the outlook is positive, if not optimistic. At the same time, the economy, at least the Greek one, in which they operate, is not currently in danger of any strong recessionary risk, although the estimates are now lower than those at the beginning of the year.

So where does this image of the industry come from? According to stock market sources, banking stocks were held captive by portfolios particularly sensitive to global risk, therefore among the first candidates in a wave of risk offs. It was something that was evident in several sessions where the sector took a dive, bigger than expected and the overall picture of the market, like yesterday.

On the dashboard

On the board now, Sarantis and Motor Oil recorded losses of 3.31% and 3.22% respectively, with Aegean retreating by 2.23%. GEK Terna, Hellenic Petroleum, ADMIE, Jumbo, ELHA and OTE were down more than 1%, while Titan, Terna Energy and PPA closed down slightly.

On the contrary, OPAP gained 2.14%, with Lambda, Mytileneo, Eurobank and PPC following with an increase of more than 1%. Viohalco, Alpha Bank, Ethniki, Coca Cola, Quest, Ellactor and Piraeus closed slightly higher. EYDAP closed unchanged.