The Athens Stock Exchange is now reaching 1000 points after a strong rise of almost 2% recorded yesterday by the general index, helped by a new rally in banking shares.

A.A. the last time it was at a four-digit level was in early December 2014, about 8 years ago, and since then, as domestic analysts note, every time it approached these levels, it always gave a correction.

The overall index closed up 1.92% to 997.81 points, with a daily high of 999.67 points, on a turnover of 130.06 million euros. The Large Cap Index closed up 1.87% to 2420.94, while the Mid Cap Index closed up 2.01% to 1512.67.

The high turnover, reaching 130 million, testifies to the revival of investment interest.

In non-banking blue chips, Sarantis posted a 5.7% gain, PPC closed at +4.93%, while ELVALHALCOR and Lamda Development recorded gains of over 3% and Aegean gained over 2%. , Mytilineos. and Biochalco. Only Jumbo (-1.2%) and Ellactor (-0.43%) showed losses.

The banking index rose by 3.15% to 747.9 points, while Piraeus recorded an increase of 4.79%, the National Bank by 3.63%, Alfa Bank by 3.46%, and Eurobank closed at +1.87 %.

The market has begun to “attract” more and more participants every week, as Fast Finance’s Ilias Zacharakis comments, stressing that he is the only one really moving to new multi-year highs, and this alone shows that investment grade is discounting. Half of the banking sector immediately and after taking stock is expected to pay dividends in fifteen years, the analyst points out, and without the burden of bad loans, but also willingly opening a lending cannula, it can make a difference. At the same time, the country’s entry into the markets shows that everything is going according to plan, and in the near future we will see a real flurry of new announcements about new buildings. Energy projects have caught fire, followed by subsidies through the Recovery Fund with new announcements in digital projects and beyond. “2023 seems to be one of the most exciting years for the stock market, and beyond. The upward movement cannot be monotonous and should also provide a correction to attract new investors,” concludes Mr. Zacharakis.

Meanwhile, the situation on the bond market worsened after new aggressive comments from ECB representatives, who sought to refute any market expectations of a rate cut. However, JP Morgan gave Greece a new vote of confidence, recommending that it increase its positions in Greek 7-10-year bonds, and especially in 10-year bonds issued last year, compared to Italian ones, stressing that the Greek state has already covered the most important part of the issuing activity in 2023.