Small losses in European markets, small gains on the Greek stock market.
S&P 500 futures are trading at a marginal discount, down from 7,483 points. With key data set to be released tomorrow, investors on Wall Street are keeping a close eye on the situation, which partly explains the wait-and-see attitude in Frankfurt and Paris today. Attention is also focused on the central bankers’ meeting in Sintra, Portugal, taking into account Friday’s holiday (July 4—Independence Day).
The first trading session of July—and of the second half of the year—was relatively subdued, with the DAX 40 at 25,072 (0.34%), the CAC40 at 8,350 (-0.04%), and the EuroStoxx Banks at 291.61 (-0.71%), which remained in negative territory from the start of the day.
The trend in EuroStoxx Banks stocks initially influenced the sentiment of a portion of investors on Euronext Athens, resulting in sellers dominating the market between 10:30 a.m. and 11:10 a.m., with sell-offs in all four systemic stocks. The market opened with a small downward gap from 2,752, with selling pressure/correction pushing the index down to 2,745 points; the day’s low was reached at 10:46, at which point buying activity began, driving prices higher. At 11:23 a.m., the DTR turned positive, continuing from there to 2,794.65 points, the high for the session so far (14:15).
The smooth absorption of any initial selling pressure in the four stocks prompted more buy orders from investors. First in Eurobank, then in National Bank of Greece, and after 11:45 a.m., in Piraeus Bank and Alpha Bank. Almost simultaneously, buying activity emerged in Cyprus Bank and Credia Bank, making the rise in bank stocks nearly universal. As we noted in our previous comments, this was viewed as encouraging—albeit a very early indication—of a shift in interest and liquidity from the energy sector to the banking sector.
Turnover stood at 135 million euros, with 23 million euros coming from pre-arranged orders (the most significant of which were in PPC, GEK TERNA, Alpha Bank, ADMIE, and Profile); trading volume totaled 14.7 million shares, with 9.98 million shares traded in banking stocks.
Trading in bank stocks is picking up somewhat, with National Bank shares at 15.45 (2.42%) for National Bank of Greece, 3.952 (0.08%) for Alpha Bank, 9.16 (0.76%) for Piraeus Bank, 9.59 (0.28%) for Bank of Cyprus, and 1.186 (3.31%) for Credia Bank.
The FTSE25 was trading around 6,264, with a low of 6,194 points (at 10:46 a.m.), with net buyers in GEK TERNA (44.24), Allwyn (14.095), Motor Oil (39.30), Metlen (41.04), Jumbo (22.68), Lamda Development (6.915), ElvalHalcor (5.07), EYDAP (11.07), and others.
The stock ratio stands at 58/55, with positive/negative signs. Y/KNOT at 1.525 euros, up 11.31% with 440,000 shares traded, stands out among mid/small caps, one day after announcing the purchase of a ship (Aframax) for $44.1 million.
Profile shares hit a new high of 8.07 (4.81%), with a block trade of 200,000 shares at 8 euros (at 14:07), while AVE shares traded at 0.49 (4.34%) and Frigoglass shares at 0.337 (3.37%).