The new series of dividend cuts, particularly those of the "heavy" NBG, have put a strain on Athens Avenue's stock market, which has started with cautious movements, a slow pace, and a slightly negative slope on the General Index.

In particular, the General Index is moving at 1,466.1 points with -0.21% and a low turnover of just 24 million euros, while 6 million pieces have been traded.

The bank index is down 1.1% at 1,279 points, the FTSE is down 0.18% at 3,569 points, as is the mid-cap FTSEM at 2,320 points, down -0.1%.

Last week, in a five-day correction internationally, Athens Avenue showed significant defenses, and despite the 3/5 down sessions and the bank's -2.1%, the GC gained, albeit with a small gain of 0.3%, driven by OTE's +5%.

From this position and with the global sentiment showing improvement already since Friday, the Athens market now looks forward to the big 1,500 target, although at first it will have to counter the new series of dividend cuts today, mainly of the "heavy" National Bank (€0.362) but also of ABAX (€0.03) and PPA (€1.336).

On a technical level, Elias Zacharakis of Fast Finance notes that the GC is targeting the 1,540 level. The 1,450 level is main support, reminding that our stop is at 1,438. Substantial resistance is at 1,500 points, with 1,480 points nearby.

Otherwise, the global investment community's gaze is gradually turning to the US, where the Federal Reserve meets for the last time this summer (July 30–31), with increased bets now on the possibility that Governor Jay Powell will signal the first rate cut of the current cycle for the next meeting in September.

National Bank at -4% due to dividend weighs on the board, with Eurobank slightly negative at -0.4%; however, Alpha and Piraeus have picked up pace and are now moving with gains of around 0.6%.

OTE also stands out today among the stocks providing support to the market at +0.9%, with PPC close behind at +0.7% and Motor Oil, ELPE at +0.5%.

With lower turnover, below 75k euros, Elvalhalcor and Aegean are gaining more than 1% and are at the top of the 25. 

On the contrary, beyond ETE, EYDAP moves with losses of 1%, Ellaktor loses 0.75%, and Sarantis loses around -0.5%.

In the lower layers, PPA moves -4.3 and AVAX moves -1.4% after their own dividends. Intralot is also down at -1%, Intrakat is down -1.2% and Profile is down -1.6%, while Optima and Dimand are up around 0.8%.