The Athens Stock Exchange is moving strongly upwards and to new highs of one year and 13 years with a barrage of buying moves by investors, boosted by the improved climate in the international markets in recent days, which are moving at the pace of interest rates, financial data releases and first quarter results of listed companies. 

The stock exchange returned to... normality after the holidays and the real "moods" of investors are beginning to be seen at a special time like that of the month of May, with the well-known Sell in May motto. The optimism that dominated the international markets during the days when the X.A. was closed creates a favourable ground for the continuation of the rise, with the General Index having eight positive sessions in the last 10 and now convincingly "chasing" the 1,500 points.

The FTSE25 high-cap index is up 1.17% at 3,564.89 points, the mid-cap index is up 0.67% at 2,382.4 points and the banking index is up 1.25% at 1,265.08 points.

Among all blue chips, Cenergy stands out with gains of more than 3%, while gains of more than 2% are seen in Viohalco, Piraeus Bank, Coca-Cola and Titan.

Alpha Bank, National Bank, Aegean, PPC, Hellaktor, OTE, Jumbo, Quest, Elvalhalkor and Lamda Development are all up more than 1%. On the opposite side, HELLENiQ Energy, Motor Oil and Sarantis are moving with mild losses, while EYDAP is at -0.86%.