Stock market unstoppable – New 13-year record with another 1.9% jump

by Manos Hachladakis

With the foot “pressed on the gas” the Athens market continued for the fifth consecutive session, which with “explosive” banks and Mytilene climbed to new highs of 13 years having now extremely increased levels of transactions, in another day of significant overperformance compared to the European – and not only – dashboard.

In particular, the General Index moved steadily upward today, early on laying the foundations for a strong session and climbing towards the close which was again at the high of the day at 1,447.82 points with a new jump of 1.93%.

At the same time, the turnover increased sharply, jumping to 161.4 million euros, of which only 15.8 million in 19 pre-agreed transactions (4 packages in Mytilene for 7.9 million and 3 in Piraeus for 2 .8 million) with the volume at 36.6 million pieces.

The day’s leading banking index rallied 3.48% to 1,257.25, the FTSE rose 2.19% to 3,531.11, while the FTSEM mid-cap trailed more discreetly at 2,327.86 with +1, 32%.

After a prolonged period of accumulation against the backdrop of portfolio reshuffles due to the Piraeus placement, the stagnation was “resolved” with the market being dragged into the vortex of international liquidations under the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East and violently retreating last week to the critical zone of 1,360 units, but which ultimately seems to have been the condition that L. Athens needed in order to regroup its forces and feed back its upward trajectory.

Thus, after at the close of last week the blue chips shouldered the burden of the recovery from the geopolitical correction, with the banks returning to their familiar leading role in the current DG with 5×5 bullish sessions not only passed the resistances of the level of the 1,420 – 1,425 points but also set a new 13-year closing record (leaving behind 1,434.87 points on March 4).

Among the positives of today’s rise is also the noticeable increase in turnover, which confirms the quality of the movement with liquidity spreading across a large part of the board.

On the dashboard

The banks confirmed that they have returned for good to their familiar rhythms, occupying 4 of the first places in terms of turnover (a total of 75.5 million euros out of 161 million in total) while they outperformed all major DGs.

Piraeus is now at 4 euros with +2.8% and the highest turnover of the day at 34.7 million. National is at 7.512 euros with a 4% rally and transactions worth 13 million. Alpha is at 1.667 euros with +3.64% and 8.7 million and Eurobank at 1.984 euros with +3.36% and 17.29 million having successfully completed another market exit today.

The frame of the banks was broken by Mytileneos which occupied the second position of the turnover with 22.6 million with a rally of 2.54% to 38.8 euros and 5×5 upward sessions with a total increase of 9.73% in them.

At the top of the FTSE was Titans with a 4.61% rally to a new record high of 28.35 euros (1.94 million), while Viohalco (1.64 million) moved to 5.77 euros with +3% and OTE (5.7 million) to 14.42 euros with +2.27%.

Jumbo (6.4 million) increased by 1%, PPC (5 million) by 1.78%, Coca Cola by 1.65%, Sarantis by 1.95% and GEK TERNA by 1.35 %.

It was typical that only three high capitalization stocks moved down, Ellactor with -1.3% and Lambda and Autohellas around -0.7% both.

In mid-caps Intralot with 1.9m rallied 3.36% to €1.17, Intrakat with 1.38m rose slightly by 0.6% ahead of its size announcement and Ideal with 1, 37 million gained 2.07% after reaching an agreement to sell 100% of Astir to Guala.

Olympiaki Techniki (82 thousand euros) moved even better with +6.23% and Alumyl (146 thousand) with +5.66%.

From there on, El. Venizelos with 1.34 million registered a rise of 1.17% to 8.448 euros, while Optima against the climate of the day corrected by -0.77% to 10.28 euros on transactions of 1.7 million.

Today, the ratio of buyers/sellers in the whole board was almost more than doubled, with 85 stocks moving up against 43 down.

In other respects, the Greek State instructed major banks today to “run” the process of issuing a new 30-year bond, due on June 15, 2054, which, if market conditions permit, will take place tomorrow, Wednesday.

Coordinated upward markets internationally

In the international field, the US market entered the week with a “right” yesterday, breaking a six-day falling streak (for S&P 500 and Nasdaq) and continues its upward reaction today.

At +0.55% the Dow Jones, at +0.7% the S&P 500 and at +1% the Nasdaq, with the so-called “fear index” VIX falling significantly by more than 3% (16.4 points).

The European indices are also moving on positive territory for the second day, with the British FTSE 100 having reached a new record high, although it has now slowed down, limiting its gains to +0.2%, while the German DAX is strengthening by 1.3%, the French CAC 40 by 0.55% and the pan-European Stoxx 50 by 1.05%.

Without particular changes, but with the initiatives of the buyers, the bond market continues, with the yield of the 10-year US at 4.591% and the 2-year at 4.961%, while the Greek 10-year retreats to 3.434%.

Finally, in oil, Brent trades at $86.6 a barrel and WTI at $81.5 with mild losses in the region of 0.5%.