Athens Exchange Weekly Review

Greek stocks ended flat in the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday, with the composite index gaining 5.27 pct in the week. The index was up 0.17 pct on Friday, to end at 1,527.62 points, with turnover remaining a low 88.781 million euros.

The Big Cap index fell 0.16 pct, the Mid Cap index eased 0.30 pct and the Small Cap index ended 0.64 pct lower. The Chemicals (4.36 pct) and Travel (2.48 pct) sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day, while Health (4.63 pct) and Technology (2.13 pct) suffered losses. Broadly, decliners led advancers by 88 to 84 with another 50 issues unchanged. Eurodrip (14.29 pct), NEL (12.50 pct) and Alsinco (10 pct) were top gainers, while Edrasi (18.18 pct), Elfico (17.86 pct) and Klonatex (12.5 pct) were top losers.

Sector indices ended as follows:

Insurance: +1.63%

Industrials: -0.69%

Commercial: -0.60%

Construction: -1.33%

Media: -0.32%

Oil & Gas: +0.01%

Personal & Household: +0.64%

Raw Materials: -0.17%

Travel & Leisure: -0.17%

Technology: -2.13%

Telecoms: -0.77%

Banks: -0.69%

Food & Beverages: +1.69%

Health: -4.63%

Utilities: +0.06%

Chemicals: +4.36%

Financial Services: -0.64%

The stocks with the highest turnover were National Bank, Alpha Bank, Bank of Cyprus and Eurobank.

Selected shares from the FTSE/ASE-20 index closed in euros as follows:

Alpha Bank: 4.37

ATEbank: 1.04

Public Power Corp (PPC): 11.91

HBC Coca Cola: 18.60

Hellenic Petroleum: 5.89

National Bank of Greece: 9.68

EFG Eurobank Ergasias: 4.30

OPAP: 11.24

OTE: 6.45

Bank of Piraeus: 3.91

Titan: 16.22

ADEX closing report

The September contract on the FTSE 20 index was trading at -0.13 pct in the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Friday, with turnover a low 38.266 million euros. Volume on the Big Cap index was 7,948 contracts worth 28.865 million euros, with 21,997 open positions in the market. Volume in futures contracts on equities totaled 13,947 contracts worth 9.401 million euros, with investment interest focusing on National Bank’s contracts (5,670), followed by Eurobank (1,123), MIG (333), OTE (300), OPAP (356), Piraeus Bank (457), Alpha Bank (1,085), Intralot (463), Mytilineos (512) and ATEbank (313).

Greek bond market closing report

Τurnover in the Greek electronic secondary bond market shrank to 78 million euros on Friday, of which 31 million euros were buy orders and the remaining 47 million euros were sell orders. The three-year benchmark bond (June 19, 2020) was the most heavily traded security with a turnover of 18 million euros. The yield spread between the 10-year Greek and German benchmark bonds widened to 773 basis points with the Greek bond yielding 10.36 pct and the German Bund 2.63 pct.

In interbank markets, interest rates moved higher. The 12-month rate was 1.35 pct, the six-month rate 1.08 pct, the three-month rate 0.82 pct and the one-month rate 0.54 pct.

Foreign Exchange rates

U.S. dollar 1.273

Pound sterling 0.842

Danish kroner 7.514

Swedish kroner 9.552

Japanese yen 112.74

Swiss franc 1.343

Norwegian kroner 8.106

Canadian dollar 1.317

Australian dollar 1.456

FINANCIAL NEWS

**** Greece will auction a six-month treasury bills issue, worth 1.25 billion euros, next Tuesday, 13 July, the Public Debt Management Organisation state Friday.

In an announcement, the organisation said the settlement date for the issue will be Friday 16, July.

The auction will be made with competitive bids by primary dealers in the Greek electronic secondary bond market, while the organisation will also accept non-competitive bids. Greece will pay no commission for the treasury bill issue.

The finance ministry said it would offer the same securities to private savers tax free on the precondition that they hold the securities until their maturity.

**** Greece’s merchandised exports fell 5.8 pct in May with their value totaling 1.263 billion euros, from 1.340 billion euros in May 2009, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said in its provisional data on the country’s merchandise trade on Friday.

The statistics service said imports fell 21.7 pct in May to 3.063 billion euros, from 3.914 billion euros in May 2009.

**** Industrial production index fell 4.9 pct in May, compared with the same month last year, the Hellenic Statistical Authority announced on Friday, reflecting a 2.4-pct rise in mining production, a 4.4-pct decline in manufacturing production (transport equipment fell 48.8 pct, tobacco fell 31.3 pct, leather-footwear dropped 27.6 pct, clothing fell 23.6 pct and textiles were down 21 pct), a 9.9-pct decline in electricity production and an 1.3-pct increase in water production.

****    Building activity fell 34.5 pct in volume in April, compared with the same month last year, with the building volume index falling 23.8 pct in the first four months of 2010, the Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Friday.

The statistics service said Attica-greater Athens (-52.2 pct), Epirus (-48.7 pct), Crete (-48.2 pct), Thessaly (-45.4 pct) and Central Greece (-45.4 pct) recorded the biggest percentage monthly declines. Building permits fell 15.4 pct in April.

Building activity in volume fell 23.8 pct in January-April. Building permits fell 16.3 pct in the four-month period.

**** Greece’s economic sentiment index improved in June after a four-month decline, to 63.8 points, from 61.9 in May, the Institute for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) said on Friday.

The report noted an improvement in all economic sectors, with the exception of the retail sector which showed a marked worsening to a new record low. IOBE said, however, that despite June’s improvement the prevailing mood was still pessimistic and stressed that signs of stabilization were visible for the next three months.

Business expectations in the manufacturing sector recorded a slight decline in production and the current level of demand and orders, although inventories were down in June.

In the services sector, business expectations recorded a slight decline for the current level of business and demand, after a record low in May.

In the retail sector, business expectations fell to new record lows in June, with inventories rising sharply, while in the construction sector business expectations recovered slightly, reflecting improved outlook for business although the outlook of employment in the sector was negative.

The consumer’s confidence index remained at May’s record low levels in June (-67 points), the lowest level in Europe, followed by Romania (-63), Bulgaria and Portugal (-40).

IOBE said new economic austerity measures in Greece have made Greek consumers more pessimistic over developments in the last seven months, although it stressed that pessimism could have reached its bottom at current levels. Greek consumers’ predictions over the financial situation of their households in the next 12 months remained at record low levels, while their predictions over the economic situation of the country fell for the eighth consecutive month to -62 points, only one point away from March 2009 record lows.

Greek consumers’ intention to save remained at very low levels in June, while they also were very pessimistic over developments in the labour market.

Households’ intention to make significant purchases over the next 12 months fell for the fourth consecutive month.

**** The civil servants’ union (ADEDY) on Friday decided to continue the mobilizations seeking to overturn the anti-popular social insurance system reform measures and called a nationwide work stoppage on July 15, beginning at 11:00 in the morning until the end of the day’s shift.

The public sector umbrella union also called the civil servants to participate in a protest demonstration outside the Parliament on July 15 at noon when the draft law on the public sector social insurance reform will be voted.

A statement by ADEDY underlined that the draft law under discussion in Parliament and the clauses already passed abolish most of the civil servants’ labor rights.

**** Greek inflation slowed to 5.2 pct in June, from 5.4 pct in May, the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) said on Wednesday.

The independent statistics service, in its monthly report, said the consumer price index rose 5.2 pct in June, compared with the same month last year, after an increase of 0.5 pct recorded in the previous 12-month period. The CPI fell 0.3 pct in June from May 2010, after a decline of 0.1 pct recorded in the same period in 2009.