The new sell off on the Stock Exchange swept the supports

of Alexandra Tombra

The Athens Stock Exchange landed at the lowest levels of the last three months today, following an international sell off and being unable to find the thread of the recovery effort, since almost all Greek assets were in the sights of sellers.

In particular, the general index closed with a fall of 4.6% to 822.84 points, while today it moved between 854.05 points (-0.99%) and 818.56 points (-5.10%). The turnover amounted to 116.50 million euros and the volume to 42.15 million units, while 2.13 million units were traded through pre-agreed transactions.

The index of high capitalization closed with a fall of 4.69%, at 1,981.17 points, while at -4.75% the Mid Cap completed the transactions at 1,295.23 points. The banking index closed with losses of 6.34% at 531.38 points.

The international environment today may be reminiscent of the “sunshine after the storm”, but that does not mean that it has left behind the reasons that have led to the recent tremors. And in this environment, today several portfolios found an opportunity to reduce their risk, something they could not do yesterday due to the holiday.

At the same time, the ATHEX has to manage the increase of the geopolitical risk as the provocation of Turkey hits “red”. Until now, Greek-Turkish relations may have been secondary, but no one forgets that the ATHEX was always influenced by tensions between the two countries.

There, stock market factors attribute the severity of the current ATHEX fall, although this does not mean that Greek assets are not in the crosshairs of leverage and risk reduction, with the shallowness of the market making even the smallest movements cause major upheavals throughout the dashboard.

In fact, according to Ilias Zacharakis of Fast Finance, the market is tired and dry for the participants, risking a drastic reduction in turnover. At the same time, we see, logically, a negative image with diffusion throughout the dashboard since many are looking for liquidity in profitable securities despite their good financial data. This is always corrected over time, but in the short term it certainly affects.

However, the results of the listed companies continue to do well, but without the dashboard having the same view at the present juncture. After all, the bond market does not help, as it sets a new historical record in the size of losses within a year since we are close to 13% average losses.

It is recalled here that the Greek 10-year yield is currently jumping to 4.65%, much higher than it was when the ECB was forced to activate PEPP in March 2020 – and at the same levels as at the end of 2017. Similar sell-off note the other Greek bonds with the 5-year to see its yield jump to 3.63%.

On the board

On the board now, Mytilineos and Ethniki recorded losses of 7.40% and 7.15% respectively, with OTE, Piraeus and Quest following with more than 6% losses. Alpha Bank, Eurobank, Sarantis, Lambda and PPC closed more than -5% and Terna Energy, Motor Oil, Titan, ELHA and Viohalko closed more than 4%.

Losses in Coca Cola and PPA exceeded 3%, Aegean and GEK Terna closed at -2.46% and -2.24% respectively, while over 1% was the fall in Hellenic Petroleum and OPAP. Jumbo, EYDAP and Ellaktor closed slightly lower.