The General Index of the Athens Exchange spent only a few seconds in negative territory before a handful of buyers, making selective investments in heavyweight stocks, turned the market’s main indices positive. They remained there until the close.
Other notable features of today’s session were the clear pullback in indices and individual stocks from their intraday highs, and the significant drop in turnover—its lowest level in the past 25 sessions. The next-lowest figure was recorded on 8/9, at €243.59 million.
It is worth noting that, for a second consecutive session, the Athens Exchange returned to its familiar “factory settings”, with the Banking Index setting the tone, shaping sentiment and leading the advance, as confirmed by its final gain of 0.60%.
The picture remains disheartening among mid- and small-cap stocks, with the contest between advancers and decliners going down to the wire. Decliners ultimately prevailed, despite the main indices’ positive performance. Sessions over the past several months have only served to reinforce the question: “What exactly is the point of having dozens of stocks on the domestic market that remain on the sidelines and show clear signs of neglect, both in trading terms and beyond?”
Regardless of how the Athens Exchange finished today, there is no doubt that the factors continuing to shape sentiment remain fluid and volatile. On the positive side today were the relative easing in oil prices and government bond yields.
On the other hand, analysts were quick to point to renewed caution around Artificial Intelligence, which began to emerge mildly on Wall Street last night (Nasdaq -0.44%) and prompted more aggressive selling in Asia this morning (Nikkei -1.82%, Kospi -5.46%). This followed remarks by Broadcom Inc. chief executive Hock Tan, who likened investor sentiment in the AI market to a casino and warned that “financing infrastructure growth will be a key problem”, just as higher interest rates are beginning to weigh on large debt-financed deals and threaten initial public offerings (IPOs), which until recently had attracted intense interest.
Turning to the domestic picture, the IMF, in its World Economic Outlook, forecasts Greek economic growth of 1.8% for 2026-27, well below the targets set by the government in its draft 2027 budget, which projects growth of 2% this year and 2.3% next year. The IMF estimates that inflation in Greece will rise to 4.2% in 2026, from 2.9% in 2025. It expects inflation to ease to 3.6% in 2027, though pressure on purchasing power will persist. The draft budget projects that headline inflation will be 3.6% this year and fall to 2.4% in 2027. For the harmonised index, which allows comparisons between European Union member states, the corresponding forecasts are 3.8% and 2.6%.
It is recalled that the Capital Maritime public offering opened today and closes on Thursday, 15 October, aiming to raise up to €300 million to expand its fleet. The maximum offer price is €7.68 per new share and the minimum is €7.00. Trading in the new shares will begin on Tuesday, 20 October 2026.
October contracts on the Derivatives Market expire on Friday, 16/10.
Meanwhile, “the European Union is considering imposing a windfall tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies across Europe,” the European Commissioner responsible for taxation, Wopke Hoekstra, told Reuters. The statement did not appear to unsettle shares in Greek refiners, which returned to positive territory (ΕΛΠΕ +3.41%, closing at a new record high, and ΜΟΗ +2.99%).
Meanwhile, according to the Capital Market Commission’s latest data, the following net short positions exceed 0.5%:
Qube Research & Technologies Limited continues to hold a net short position of 0.79475% in BYLOT, 0.77143% in ΑΔΜΗΕ and 0.61914% in CREDIA. AKO Capital LLP holds a net short position of 1.05351% in MTLN.
As of 12/10/2026, Qube Research & Technologies Limited increased its net short position in AKTR to 0.72509%, from 0.6012%.
Major European markets are little changed and remain well below their morning highs.
In the bond market, the US two-year yield has fallen to 4.78%, while the 10-year yield is at 5.19%. The 30-year yield is 5.55%. The Greek 10-year yield is 4.35%, compared with 4.81% for its French counterpart.
The International Monetary Fund issued a stark warning, saying that “government bond yields could rise in a ‘disorderly’ fashion as mounting debt and inflation risks worsen globally. At the same time, a new source of pressure is emerging from the technology sector. Exponentially rising borrowing by Artificial Intelligence companies (AI) is competing directly with government bonds for investors’ attention. Hyperscalers’ share of global investment-grade bond issuance has risen to 10%, from less than 1% in 2024. Another serious source of concern is the activities of hedge funds. Their growing holdings of US government bonds leave the market vulnerable to disorderly deleveraging. Hedge funds’ share of US Treasury bonds rose to about 9% in 2025, from about 4% in 2022, mainly through highly leveraged strategies.”
The report was published during the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand.
“It is wrong for central banks to bail out governments that categorically refuse to balance their budgets. Their job is to restore the smooth functioning of the financial system, not to underwrite decades of reckless borrowing. If central banks become money-printing machines for finance ministries, rather than guarantors of price stability, sell-offs in long-term bonds will intensify further,” “The Economist”.
“The sharp fall in eurozone government bond prices in September does not signal a broad deterioration in sovereign credit quality,” according to an analysis by Morningstar DBRS.
Investor attention will also remain focused on third-quarter 2026 results, whose reporting season is under way, particularly in the banking sector.
According to Beta Sec., “Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock report results tomorrow, while Thursday, 15 October, will see the eagerly anticipated results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), given the company’s importance to the global semiconductor market and investment in Artificial Intelligence. Results from the major US banks will provide the first indications of corporate earnings trends, credit growth and the quality of loan portfolios at a time of heightened uncertainty over the outlook for the US economy”.
“Among the week’s key economic data releases are September inflation in the US on Wednesday, US retail sales on Thursday and September inflation in the eurozone on Friday,” according to Depolas Investment Services.
According to the economic calendar, the next ECB meetings and announcements are scheduled for 29/10 and 17/12/2026.
The corresponding Fed meetings are scheduled for 28/10 and 9/12/2026.
The next scheduled monetary policy meetings of the BoJ are on 30/10 and 18/12, and those of the BoE on 5/11 and 17/12.
The General Index traded between 2,593.73 (-0.03%) and 2,617.00 points (+0.87%). At 17:00 it stood at 2,602.33 (+0.30%) and closed at 2,598.72 points, up 0.16% on the day.
Turnover fell to €269.5 million, of which €62.4 million came from pre-agreed trades (OPTIMA, ALWN, BYLOT, CREDIA, AEM, BOCHGR, ΛΑΜΔΑ, ΜΟΗ, ΑΛΦΑ, ΕΥΡΩΒ, ΣΑΡ, ΠΕΙΡ, ΟΤΕ, ΕΤΕ, ΕΛΠΕ, ΙΝΤΕΤ, ΔΑΑ, ΜΠΕΛΑ). ΑΛΦΑ, ΕΥΡΩΒ and ΕΤΕ accounted for 36% of total gross trading value.
Of total turnover of €269.5 million, €251.6 million came from trades in FTSE 25 shares.