The Athens Stock Exchange closed the last session before the August 15 holiday in a dynamic manner, with buyers continuing to "trim" the heavy liquidation from the recent sell off.

The improved sentiment abroad and attractive valuations on the board were the best "balm" for Athens Avenue, which of course "sees" the trading volume declining due to the summer season. 

In this environment, during today's session, the General Index recorded a remarkable increase of 1.42% to 1,423.05 points, gaining almost 20 points compared to Tuesday's close (1,403.17 points).

The arc of daily fluctuations was fixed at 15 points (from 1,408.54 to 1,42355 points), with a turnover of 96 million euros, of which 5.6 million euros related to pre-agreed packages.

The banking index significantly extended its comeback after receiving encouraging reports from international houses, finishing +2.35% at 1,270 points, reducing the distance to this year's high (1,354 points) to -6%.

NBG's share "starred" at +4.1% and 7.924 euros, Eurobank's share rose +2.00% and 2.04 euros, Piraeus' share closed +0.92% and 3.934 euros, while Alpha's share strengthened +1.78% and 1.598 euros.

In the high-cap index (+1.52% and 3,470 points), Jumbo shares rose +4.2% and 23.4 euros, reacting to recent 15-month lows (<22 euros), while Titan Cement shares climbed +3.1% and 31.4 euros. Cenergy, Ellaktor and Elvalhalcor gained around +2%, with shares of OPAP, GEK Terna, Viohalco, Metlen and Motor Oil following at +1%. On the flip side, Sarantis shares lost around 1%.

As for the mid-cap index (+1.30% and 2,262 points), the shares of EXAE stood out positively at +3.8% and 4.62 euros, putting a brake on the large losses of the last period. Intrakat, Profile and Intracom widened by +2.5% to +3.1%, while Dimand, Ideal, Lavipharm, Kri Kri, PPA, Technical Olympics and Optima followed by more than +1%.