The Athens Stock Exchange broke its streak of five consecutive profitable sessions today (10/7), with sellers regaining the "reins" from buyers, under the weight of dividend cuts.

Helleniq Energy (EUR 0.60), Jumbo (EUR 1.00) and Piraeus (EUR 0.06) came under pressure as they traded without the right to this year's bonus, negatively affecting the market as a whole.

This, despite the fact that sentiment abroad was visibly improving, with volatility and uncertainty surrounding the French political scene taking a back seat while the S&P 500 shattered consecutive records.

Against this backdrop, in today's session, the General Index posted a controlled decline of 0.48% to 1,444.31 points, losing almost seven points from Tuesday's close (1,451.22 points).

The banking index, influenced by the broader sentiment, retraced -0.84% to 1,258 points, 6.7% away from this year's highs of 1,349 points.

Piraeus shares narrowed to -0.87% and EUR 3.65, Eurobank shares "fell" to -1.71% and EUR 2.069, Alpha Bank shares finished at -0.61% and EUR 1.64, while National Bank shares closed at -0.38% and EUR 7.86.

In the high-cap index (-0.63% and 3,513 points), Helleniq Energy's shares, which cut its dividend of EUR 0.60, retreated to -6.49% and EUR 7.78. Jumbo's shares also fell more than 4%, which stopped incorporating the right to the 1 euro bonus. At the same time, Viohalco, Motor Oil, OPAP and Lamda Development lost at least 1%. On the flip side, shares of GEK TERNA expanded +2.3% to EUR 17.6, setting a new 24-year high. Hellaktor also climbed above 2.6 euros, gaining 2.1%. Aegean, Titan Cement, Coca Cola and Autohellas gained around +1%.

As for the mid-cap index (-0.11% and 2,307 points), Intralot's shares stood out negatively at -2% and EUR 1.24, correcting from yesterday's 6-year highs, while Intracom - EXAE shares also lost more than 1%. On the contrary, Lavipharm shares flew +4.8% and EUR 0.91, with Profile shares following at +1.2% and recovering EUR 5. At +2.5% and 26.6 euros closed