The Athens Stock Exchange remained in negative territory for the 3rd consecutive session, with investors making new liquidations and driving the General Index towards 1,400 points.

Somehow, the Greek market ended a down week, despite a temporary climb to 1,430 points. The inability to diffuse the rise beyond the banks probably proved decisive and, of course, detrimental.

This, despite the fact that the 9-month financials were again supportive, confirming expectations of a resilient 12-month profitability and an improved dividend policy on the part of the managements.

Specifically, in the last session of the five-day period, the General Index recorded a notable decline of 0.96% and ended near the daily low of 1,043.87 points, losing 13.6 points compared to Thursday's close (1,417.50 points).

The arc of daily fluctuations was fixed at 11 points (from 1,403.23 to 1,414.59 points), with a turnover of 127 million euros, of which 25.8 million euros were pre-agreed packages.

And let's not forget that the series of FTSE 25 futures contracts (FTSE 25) on the Derivatives Exchange also expired today.

On a weekly basis, the main stock market index lost -0.6%, with banks down -2.6% over the five-day period.

The banking index, after its recent streak of eight up sessions, "recorded" its third consecutive downward move as it closed down -1.25% at 1,198 points. As a result, losses in the Wednesday-Friday period exceeded -4.5%

Alpha shares fell to -1.71% and EUR 1,579, NBG shares fell to -1.44% and EUR 7,102, Piraeus shares fell to -2.02% and EUR 3,684, and Eurobank shares were nearly unchanged at EUR 1.97.

A special mention should be made of Cyprus, as last night the liquidator of Laiki Bank surrendered 4.8%, or 21.5 million shares, through a placement, zeroing his holding. This was the second placement since the bank's listing on the stock exchange, preceded a few weeks ago by the sale of 3% by CarVal.