Today’s session on the Athens Stock Exchange had two distinct phases. The main indices opened cautiously, with controlled losses, but after 11.30 buyers took more initiative and the indices moved into positive territory, where they stayed until the close.
The domestic market’s turnaround was helped by European markets moving away from their morning lows, a slight easing in oil prices and selective buying in banks, refineries, Coca-Cola HBC and Cenergy.
And, of course, in a “shallow” market such as the Athens Exchange, the “magic” of the closing auctions was never far away. It was further evidence that, at present, the portfolios active on the Athens Exchange can still do as they please with a handful of heavyweight stocks, shaping the mood, sentiment and perceptions.
That was the case again today: with a final flourish in the closing auctions, “buyers” pushed the Athens Exchange’s main indices and seven stocks in the large-cap segment to their session highs, taking the General Index back above 2,600 points.
The net value of transactions remained relatively low, but that was perhaps to be expected ahead of tomorrow’s market holiday, with international markets fully open.
There was little to excite in the mid- and small-cap segments, which remain stubbornly on the sidelines. Any momentum is confined to a handful of stocks that have attracted interest from major shareholders, or to short-lived rebounds in shares trying to “emerge” from multi-month or multi-year lows.
Unfortunately, this is the reality of the domestic Developed Market, if a market can be considered developed when more than 80% of daily turnover is concentrated in a single-digit number of stocks (!)
Beyond that, anyone choosing to follow the daily trend will need to exercise extra caution, as all the issues troubling markets remain unresolved, from oil prices and geopolitical developments to movements in government bond yields.
Against this backdrop, forthcoming meetings of the major central banks are inevitably set to dominate attention.
According to the economic calendar, the next Fed meetings and announcements are scheduled for 28/10 and 9/12/2026.
The corresponding ECB meetings are scheduled for 29/10 and 17/12/2026.
The next scheduled monetary policy meetings are on 30/10 and 18/12 for the BoJ, and on 5/11 and 17/12 for the BoE.
Alongside the central bank meetings, attention abroad will remain firmly focused on third-quarter corporate earnings, with the pivotal technology sector also coming into sharp focus.
According to Beta Sec., “today, after the close on Wall Street, Robinhood and Visa report. On Wednesday, 28 October, before the market opens, Aon, ADP, Etsy and GE Vernova report, while after the close attention turns to Alphabet, Microsoft, FedEx, Ford and ServiceNow.
On Thursday, 29 October, Bristol Myers Squibb, Caterpillar, Eli Lilly, Mastercard and Merck report before the open, while Amazon, Intel, Mondelez, Rivian, SanDisk, Starbucks, Strategy and Twilio report after the close. Finally, on Friday, 30 October, AbbVie and Chevron report before the market opens, while ExxonMobil’s results are also due”.
About 7.3 million Israelis are going to the polls today. For many, the election is effectively a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s record.
Returning to the Athens Exchange, technical analysis suggests that as long as the General Index fails to close above 2,640–2,643 points, the possibility of the “gap” at 2,518–2,498 points being filled remains in play.
Meanwhile, here are the scheduled announcements the Athens Exchange is awaiting, although only a deal could be expected to awaken a broader swathe of the domestic market.
It is worth noting that nine-month results are due in the following order: ΕΥΡΩΒ on 29/10/2026, ΠΕΙΡ on 30/10/2026, ΑΛΦΑ on 30/10/2026, ΕΤΕ on 4/11/2026, BOCHGR on 5/11/2026, OPTIMA on 11/11/2026 and CREDIA on 12/11/2026.
“Bank earnings announcements are unlikely to change investor sentiment in the short term. We are therefore maintaining our cautious tactical stance, despite valuations now being much more attractive,” an Axia-Alpha Finance report says.
Alongside the bank results, Beta Sec. says that the Athens International Airport reports today. OTE is due to report before the market opens on Friday, 30 October. CPI and Nakas are also due to announce their full-year results at the end of the week.
The “Euronext Athens Small Cap Conference 2026” will take place at the Divani Caravel Hotel on 2 November 2026. According to the invitation from Euronext Athens, participating companies are Alpha Trust Andromeda, AS Company, Biokarpet, Daios, Elton, EIS, Lanakam, Quality & Reliability, Revoil, Softweb, Trek Development, Unibios, Verallis and Y/KNOT Invest.
Investors are awaiting MSCI’s announcement on its quarterly index review. The changes will be announced late in the evening on 11 November 2026 and take effect on 1 December 2026, with investors rebalancing their positions on Monday, 30 November 2026.
FTSE Russell index changes will be announced on 13/11, with rebalancing on 18/12.
The focus then shifts to London on 30 November and 1 December, when the Morgan Stanley & Euronext Athens Greek Investment Conference 2026 will take place.
Bond market yields are moving sideways to slightly higher. The US two-year yield has risen to 4.73%, the 10-year to 4.99% and the 30-year to 5.30%. The Greek 10-year yield stands at 4.330%, while the equivalent French yield is 4.93%.
US government bonds are expected to offer returns of around 7% to 8% over the next 12 months, according to JP Morgan Asset Management. The forecast for positive returns is based first on an expected rise in bond prices and then on the interest income they provide to investors. The firm expects the US Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged tomorrow, but believes it will probably return in December with a tougher message on monetary policy.
Staying with government bonds, the weighted average yield at today’s auction of €400 million in 13-week Treasury bills was 2.44%, up from 2.38% at the previous equivalent auction on 7 October, according to the results published by the Public Debt Management Agency. Total bids amounted to €1.001 billion.
The General Index traded between 2,559.72 (-0.39%) and 2,597.45 (+1.08%). At 17.00 it stood at 2,596.24 (+1.03%) and ended the session at a fresh high of 2,605.71 points, up 1.4% on the day.
Turnover was €287.9 million, of which €27 million came from negotiated transactions (CREDIA, OPTIMA, TITC, BOCHGR, NOVAL, ΔΕΗ, ΜΠΕΛΑ, ΑΛΦΑ, ΕΤΕ, ΜΟΗ, ΕΥΡΩΒ, ΓΕΚΤΕΡΝΑ, ΠΕΙΡ, ΔΕΗ). ΕΤΕ, ΠΕΙΡ and ΕΥΡΩΒ accounted for 55% of total gross transaction value.
ΕΤΕ accounted for 21.10% of turnover.
Of the total turnover of €287.9 million, €274.5 million came from trading in FTSE 25 shares.