The Athens Stock Exchange closed at a new high for the year and a new 13-year record, which did not lose momentum for a single moment during the session, with buyers giving a strong presence to blue chips and especially banks, driving turnover above 200 million euros and to the highest levels since mid-March. 

The de-escalation of geopolitical risk, positive news on the financial results front for listed companies, the barrage of positive reports for the X.A and Greek banks, and the unexpected upgrade of Greece's outlook to positive by S&P, which paved the way for the highly successful issue of the new 30-year bond by the Greek government, encouraged buyers on the X.A in recent times.

This, combined with the strong momentum shown by international markets on the days when Athens Avenue was closed for the holidays, led the General Index to record gains of 14% since the beginning of the year and the Banking Index to rally by 20%, bringing Greek equities to the top of the list of returns internationally this year.

The move of the X.A. against the... Sell in May and the break of the 1,470 zone pave the way to 1,500 points before the next major milestone and 1,550 points, which is achievable by the European elections, as domestic analysts believe, with the big issue being to maintain turnover at high levels.

In market statistics, the General Index closed at 1,473.53 points, up 1.47%, while turnover stood at 210.59 million euros with many packages in banks.

The high-cap index gained 1.67% to 3,582.57 points, while the mid-cap index closed with a gain of 0.17% at 2,370.42 points.

In non-banking blue chips, Cenergy stood out with a 4.37% gain, followed by Elvalhalkor at +3.70% and Biochalco at +3.60%, while Coca-Cola, Titan, and Mytilineos rose by more than 2%. Gains of more than 1% were recorded in Aegean, PPC, Jumbo, OTE and Lamda Development.

On the opposite side, Sarantis closed with a loss of 2.03%, Quest lost 1.91%, and HELLENiQ Energy, EYDAP, and Autohellas fell slightly.

The banking index outperformed with an increase of 2.18% to 1,276.67 points, with National Bank closing +4.23%, Alpha Bank +2.21%, and Eurobank +0.69%, while Piraeus Bank closed with a gain of 0.99% and at the low of the day, even though it even touched +3.6% intraday.