by Athanasios Adamopoulos

 

The Greek stock market has managed to return to positive ground in the last month of the year, having spent the biggest part of 2022 in negative territory amid the Ukraine crisis, the energy crisis, high inflation and the continuing pandemic.

 

The general index of the Athens Stock Exchange was down 12.72% in July 5, the blue chip FTSE 25 index was down 13.71% and the bank index was losing 22.92% in the same period. All three indices have now return to positive ground presenting gains in the 11-month period, a real achievement for a market living in such extraordinary situation.

 

The general index was up 2.13%, the FTSE 25 is up 3.43% and the bank index is up 13.61% by the end of November. The general index is up despite the fact that two of its main ingredients (Coca Cola HBC and OTE) are recording significant losses (down 22.90% and 9.30%, respectively in 2022).

 

Among blue chip stocks, 12 shares' performance is better than the general index while 13 are underperformers, a development which could be used as an investment roadmap for investors seeking opportunities among market laggers.

 

This year's performance is based on a series of factors, which turned energy and other categories of stock shares into leaders, while others still remaining below the 2021 closing prices and closer to the 52-week low of the market. The bank sector is another example of this two-speed market that characterises the Greek stock market this year. Among banks, National Bank and Eurobank are leading with gains of 32% and 22.30% so far this year, followed by Alpha Bank (-6.10% despite a +25.43% in the last two months) and Piraeus (up 8.50% thanks to a +35% in October-November). Piraeus Bank's share price was down 43% in the first half of 2023, falling to an historic low of 0.71 euro, but has rebounded spectacularly since then (+91.78%). The reasons why National Bank and Eurobank have achieved a better performance is that the two banks have implemented more efficiently restructuring process of their portfolios.

 

The general index of the market reached a year high on February 11 (971.09 points). It fell to a year low of 779.20 points on July 6, 2022. It recorded its biggest daily percentage decline on February 24 (-6.42%), the day the Ukraine crisis begun.