With buyers prevailing and banks coming back convincingly, the Athens Stock Exchange has not only regained the psychological milestone of 1,400 but is also moving significantly higher, while investment sentiment is showing signs of recovery globally as geopolitical tension in the Middle East subsides.

Specifically, the General Index is trading at 1,415 points with a gain of 1.6% and turnover at 49 million, while 9.8 million shares have been traded. The banking index is up 2% at 1,1203 points, the FTSE is up 1.78% at 3,438 points, and the mid-cap FTSEM is up +1.27% at 2,288 points. 

However, after three days in which blue chips have borne the brunt of the recovery from the correction, the highlight of the day is the return of banks to their familiar leading role. 

In today's moves, with the speed gained since Friday, PPC and Mytilineos continue with a rise of around 1.9% each, with OPAP at +1.4% and Jumbo at +1.8%. Piraeus at +2.5%, Eurobank at +2.4%, National Bank at +1.45% and Alpha at +1.4%.

Elsewhere, Aegean is up a strong 2.9% and tops the FTSE, while Elvalhalkor, Titanas and Lamda are still up 2%. Indicative of the sentiment that in the high capitalisation only Autohellas is down -4.4% and this is because as of today it is trading without the dividend entitlement of EUR 0.7 per share, and Biohalco is down -0.3%. In the mid-caps Intralot jumps 3.8% and Intracom 4.4%, AVAX gains 3%, and against the mood of the day Intrakat declines slightly by 0.5%. Beyond that, with strong gains, El. Venizelos at 2.3% and Optima at +2.7%.