Taking support from abroad and the ECB's new monetary easing, the Athens Stock Exchange managed to close in positive territory for the 3rd consecutive session, taking advantage of the selective positioning of buyers.

However, once again the Greek market "underperformed" the daily returns of the European indices (+1% for the Stoxx 600), not convincing of its ability to immediately break out of the narrow 1,400-1,470 level, which has plagued investors for several weeks.

Somehow, the distance from the multi-year highs of 1,502 points, which have been ignored since last May, remained at a fractional level, despite the stable macroeconomic environment and attractive valuations of many listed companies.

In any case, today's focus was on the central bank's decisions, with Christine Lagarde moving to cut interest rates again by 25 basis points, bringing the size of the easing so far to 75 basis points. And that, understandably, gave a boost to equity.

Specifically, in the 4th session of the week, the General Index posted a measured increase of 0.60% to 1,438.67 points, up 8.5 points from Wednesday's close (1,430.09 points).

The arc of daily fluctuations was fixed at 10 points (from 1,428.08 to 1,438.67 points), with a turnover of 111 million euros, of which 19.0 million euros were pre-agreed packages. 

The banking index managed to continue the upward reaction as it finished +1.08% and 1,232 points, bringing the distance from this year's highs down to -10%.

ΝΒG shares gained +2.20% and 7.518 euros, Eurobank shares rose +1.34% and 2.043 euros, Alpha shares traded +0.63% and 1.527 euros, while Piraeus shares fell -0.68% and 3.784 euros.

In the high-cap index (+0.58% and 3,500 points), PPC shares expanded +0.75% and 12.08 euros, returning close to this year's "peaks" of 12.5 euros. ELVALHALKOR and Titan gained at least +2%, while Autohellas, Viohalco and Motor Oil closed up more than +1%, with the latter recovering above 21 euros. On the other hand, Cenergy's shares retreated to -0.3% and "fell" below EUR 9. Helleniq Energy and OPAP lost up to 0.8%.

As for the mid-cap index (+0.45% and 2,312 points), shares of Plastic Thrace stood out positively at +3.4% and 3.77 euros, while shares of EYATH expanded to +2.2% and 3.2 euros. Trade Estates, PPA, Optima Bank and Ideal rose between 1% and 2%. On the flip side, Intrakat shares slipped by around 1% to 9-month lows (EUR 4.6), while Profile shares corrected -1.6% to EUR 5.3.