Trading on the major European markets is positive, while the correction on the Greek stock market has led to a negative “turn” for the banking sector.
S&P 500 futures traded at a marginal discount to a moderate premium; In New York, while in Frankfurt buyers remain in control, resulting in the DAX gaining 0.72% to 24,984 points, as is the case in Paris, where the CAC 40 is up 0.52% to 8,434 points.
Meanwhile, on Euronext Athens, buyers held the upper hand during the first hour, but sellers gradually began to gain ground.
The banking sector was the focus, as the decline in the Euronext Athens index triggered selling—primarily from short-term traders. Thus, from 2,823, the DTR “turned” negative (shortly before 11:30 a.m.), only to be pushed lower by intensifying sell-offs. The correction reached as low as 2,734 points earlier.
The DTR posted losses of more than 2%, with the only explanation offered by brokers being concerns about the impact of the new regulation on loans falling under the scope of the Katseli Law.
This could be described more as a pretext than a real reason, given that the scope has already been defined (affecting approximately 100,000 borrowers) and the cost has been quantified (at a level that is likely manageable for the system).
In any case, targeted selling occurred in the shares of all four systemic banks, causing Eurobank’s share price to fall from 4.204 to 4.03 euros, with a steady downward trend until just a short while ago, as well as Piraeus Bank’s from 9.206 to 8.902 euros, Alpha Bank from 4.07 to 3.911, and National Bank from 15.63 to 15.015 euros.
The DTR has been on a steady downward trend, which suggests that the seller is likely a foreign fund manager—a fact known to the market, and potential buyers are entering at increasingly lower prices. They are most likely aware—at least roughly—of the order’s range.
The shift in sentiment in the banking sector—the market’s bellwether—affected members of the community, who gradually began selling a series of index stocks, causing the FTSE25 to correct from 6,314 to 6,198 points.
Offsetting this trend were shares of Coca-Cola HBC (56.60), Motor Oil (39.04), AKTOR (13.26), Allwyn (13.835), Cenergy Holdings (24.220), TITAN (53.30), AEGEAN (12.82), AIA (10.64), PPC (23.02), and OTE (19.30).
There was also a shift in the buyer/seller ratio, as the initial 64/28 has changed to 54/65, with a significant number of mid-caps not being dragged down by the banking sector correction. Iatriko’s stock remains at the top, up 14.8%, with trading volume rising to 175,000 shares at 2.01 euros.
Turnover stood at 140 million euros, with 26.8 million euros coming from pre-arranged orders, as of 3:20 p.m.