Selling pressure is intensifying across European markets, while the General Index on the Athens bourse falls below 2,600 points .
French bonds are being sold off amid escalating protests, pushing the yield gap with Italian debt to a record range.
France’s 10-year yield stands at 4.893%, against 4.556% for Italy’s equivalent (the Greek 10-year yield is 4.389%), while the CAC 40 is down 1.47% at 7,839 points. BNP Paribas (-2.48%) and Credit Agricole (-2.51%) are among the biggest fallers, alongside Accor (-3.37%) and Vinci (-2.07%), as selling spreads across the wider CAC 40. Earlier, at 14:00, 33 of the index’s 40 stocks were in negative territory.
Sellers remain firmly in control of Euro Stoxx Banks stocks, pushing the index lower still to 286.23 (-1.72%), with the selling pressure reaching Athens and the domestic banking sector.
From pre-opening trading until earlier, sellers have consistently had the upper hand, with supply emerging between 3,019 and 2,996 points. With almost 70% of trading taking place in the sector’s shares, particularly those of the four systemic banks, sellers’ focus is clear.
The 30% gain for 2026 leaves room for profit-taking by investors who entered over the three- and six-month periods and since the start of the year. By contrast, those who bought over the past month are underwater, down 6.33%.
Given the uncertainty over the immediate outlook (through Friday, 23 October), a fund manager whose purchase price is 10.64% lower over three months and 10.47% lower over six months has no reason not to trim part of the position. The cash raised could be redeployed if the trend reverses. That would happen only if the pan-European direction changes.
Turnover stands at just €72 million, its lowest level in many sessions, with 7.4 million bank shares traded out of a total of 10.9 million shares. Turnover from pre-agreed trades totals €17.28 million, with significant transactions in Credia, PPC and OTE, as well as a large trade in 1.94 million Eurobank shares at 4.3885 (at 13:47), worth €8.53 million.
Sellers are in control of all four stocks: Eurobank (4.39), Alpha Bank (4.227), Piraeus (9.718), as well as PPC (22.52), HelleniQ Energy (19.50), Metlen (48.46), GEK TERNA (39.42) and others.
It is natural for investors to sell part of a position in a blue chip that is showing a profit, either to cover a loss elsewhere or to boost their cash reserves.
Allwyn (12.325), Cenergy Holdings (22.62), Viohalco ( 15.60), Coca Cola HBC (52.70), Lamda (5.91), Motor Oil (69.20) and Jumbo ( 26.90) were the FTSE 25 stocks in which buyers still held the upper hand earlier, at 14:10.
The balance of stocks in positive and negative territory was 35/67, compared with 42/54 in the first hour of trading.