Geopolitical concerns hit the Athens Stock Exchange, while international markets are mostly recording gains due to the possibility of escalating tensions in the Middle East after Iran's drone strike on Israel and oil prices are falling. Investors moved to liquidate, with the banking industry and mid-caps leading the way, as the Greek market appeared more susceptible to potential global instability.

The General Price Index closed at 1,390.69 points, down 0.71%. Intra-day it recorded a lower price at 1,375.44 points (-1.80%). The value of transactions amounted to 154.95 million euros, while 34,895,164 shares were traded. The high-cap index fell by 0.68%, while the mid-cap index declined by 1.39%. The banking index declined by 1.29% to 1,186.84 points, with National Bank of Greece down -2.22% and  €7.21, Alpha down -1.25% and  €1.575, Eurobank down -1.14% and  €1.829 euros and Piraeus saved with a loss of just -0.16% at €3.794.

Mytilineos with a roller coaster ride (high of the day at €35.94 with +1.07% and low at €35.02 with -1.52%) finally closed around the unchanged €35.54 (-0.07%) with the third largest turnover of the day at  €11.4 million.

Among the main buyers' picks with which losses were collected were Jumbo at  €26.7 (+1.06%) with 4.1 million; ELPE at  €8.23 (+1.1) with 3.9 million; Sarantis at  €11.4 (+1.79%) with 2.2 million; Titanas at  €26.5  (+1.15%) with 2.1 million.

Some support was still provided by Ellaktor with +1.6% at  €2.49 (turnover 889 thousand euros) and index heavy Coca Cola with +0.35% (955 thousand euros) while Viohalco gained on the upside with a small gain of 0.15%.

On the other hand, the biggest pressures were exerted on PPC which fell to  €11.32 with a 2.67% plunge on  €10 million turnover, Aegean with -2.71% on 2.4 million transactions, Lamda with -2.4% (972 thousand euros) and ElvaHalcor with -2.16% (405 thousand euros).

At the same time, OPAP -0.49% (7.6mn), Terna Energy -0,.66% (5.2mn), OTE -0.7% (6mn) and GEK Terna 1.2% (2.4mn) further weighed on the picture. 

In the mid-cap sector, Fourlis was rescued with +1.48%, Ideal with +0.48% and Kri Kri with +0.44%, while Reds gained 3.2% and Aluminum was at +0.78% but with small turnovers of  €20k and  €40k respectively.

Intralot came under strong pressure and fell to  €1.044 with a 3.69% plunge and extremely high turnover at  €3 mn; PPA closed at -3.15% and losses of more than 2% were still recorded by Intrakat (2.2 mn) ABAX and Austriacard, while Intracom closed at -1.1% (1 mn).