The U.S. and Iran agreed on a roadmap; oil prices are falling, and stocks are rising.
Brent crude is at $78.91 (-1.42%), S&P 500 futures are at 7,503 (+0.12%) on Wall Street, and long positions hold a slight advantage in European markets.
While their stance is cautious during the first hour of trading, their choices are targeted toward specific sectors and stocks.
The EuroStoxx Banks index stands at 295.25 (0.15%), with investor activity on the Greek stock exchange reflecting a similarly cautious stance.
Investors’ stance so far—at least in principle—reinforces the assessment of those who had anticipated that the two sides would agree on a roadmap, despite the back-and-forth exchanges of the past 24 hours. This development had, to a greater or lesser extent, been priced in recently; in fact, several short-term traders had rushed to partially lock in their positions.
Investor orders on Euronext Athens were subdued, with a focus on selective positioning, resulting in the General Index at 2,485 (0.38%), the DTR at 2,853 (0.11%), and the FTSE25 at 6,314 (0.36%).
With this half-hour trading flow, turnover exceeded 15 million—with 1.63 million via pre-arranged orders on Piraeus, ADMIE—no connection to Friday’s session, indicating that the rebalancing had left no “tail” from either buyers or sellers.
Trading volume stood at 2.2 million shares at 11:10 a.m., with 1.05 million shares in banking stocks, showing a decent range and extending to blue chips as well; as we noted in our pre-market commentary, investors’ options have broadened.
Piraeus Bank (9.34), Metlen (42), Viohalco (21.70), ADMIE (4.66), and ElvalHalcor (5.65) make up the top five. It is interesting to note that shares of Viohalco and ElvalHalcor—with adjusted (lower) prices due to the ex-dividend date—are on an upward trend. The limited “free float” clearly also helps drive higher valuations.
Alpha Bank shares are trading at 4.12 euros, Motor Oil at 38.66, Cenergy Holdings at 25.78, PPC at 23, and AKTOR at 12.02.
There was a clear lack of broader market interest that could have made a difference for the indices, though the strategy of stock picking was evident. As was evident in the previous session, this had a positive effect on several stocks. This strategy is likely to persist in this market cycle, as “strong hands” have not yet finished “building” their positions.
Real Consulting shares are at 6.80 euros, and Thrace Plastics shares are at 4.745 euros—examples of mid-caps showing a long-term trend.
The stock ratio stands at 57/34, with positive/negative signs, as of 11:15 a.m.