Stock prices on the Athens Stock Exchange are trending upwards after a lukewarm start reminiscent of the last few bearish sessions amid a mild upward movement in European markets.The market is trying to recover after five bearish sessions, during which the main stock index recorded a total loss of 2.80%.
The General Price Index at 13:40 is at 1,417.85 points, up 0.78% with the value of transactions close to 30 million euros. The high-cap index is up 0.88%, while the mid-cap index is up 0.35%.
The banking index recovers by 0.73% after heavy losses in recent sessions, following a report by Morningstar DBRS, which notes that continued progress in the Greek banking sector was a major factor in its decision to upgrade Greece's rating outlook to positive.
Among high-cap stocks, Elvalhalcor, OPAP, Sarantis, ELPE, and Alpha Bank recorded the biggest rise. In contrast, EYDAP and Coca-Cola HBC shares recorded the biggest fall.
The domestic market seems to have run out of positive catalysts lately, while the wait for the placement of the National Bank of Greece leads several portfolios to withdraw liquidity from the market, especially from the blue chips in which they have the largest positions.
The focus today is clearly on the Moody's rating of Greece, which is the only agency that maintains the country below investment grade, with the market believing that the best-case scenario is an upgrade of the outlook to positive from stable. Of course, a positive surprise from the house is absolutely welcome.
At the same time, Euromarkets are also moving higher, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 up +0.5% and the German DAX up +0.55%. The European Central Bank made its second interest rate cut—as expected on Thursday—by 25 basis points this year, bringing its key rate to 3.5%.
However, policymakers gave few clues about the path of monetary policy, with President Christine Lagarde saying the bank "is not committed in advance to a specific interest rate path.".
The ECB meeting came just days before the Federal Reserve's meeting on September 17-18, at which it is expected to begin its own cycle of rate cuts. Wall Street futures were little changed after the S&P 500 closed Thursday higher for a fourth straight session.
