The Athens Stock Exchange moved with controlled pressure on large and mid-cap equities, with the General Index still managing to hold the 1130 level and a fresh 8.5-year high it reached on Monday’s session.

Although it started on a bullish note, rising to 1139 points, there were profit-taking moves that continued until the close, causing the market to close in somewhat negative territory.

Given the caution that prevails in international markets and the rising AX band, short corrections are not a problem and are also useful, even at a time when the market has reached a new high of the year, analysts say.

The banking index fell by 0.62% to 878.67 points – the turnover amounted to 79.64 million dollars.

The overall index closed down 0.18% to 1134.36 points, with a turnover of 79.64 million euros. The Large Cap Index fell 0.42% to 2765.65 points, the Mid Cap Index fell 0.27% to 1658.43 points and the Banking Index shed 0.62% to 878.67 points. Among blue chips, Motor Oil stood out overall with a 2.08% increase, followed by HELLENiQ ENERGY with a 1.22% increase, as well as Viohalco, Lamda, Quest, T. Piraeus, Aegean, Coca-Cola, Jumbo and Mytilineos. On the other hand, Sarantis closed down 4%, followed by Autohellas down 3.41% and ELVALHALCOR down 2.24%, while Alpha Bank, PPC, Ellactor and OPAP closed down more than 1%.

The International Houses continue to publish reports reaffirming their vote of confidence in the positive outlook for the Greek economy and the stock market, while April’s inflation declines to +3% from +4.6% in March and outperforms tax revenues account for the main surplus in four month in the amount of 2.4 billion euros, according to Dimitris Tzanas from Kyklos Chrimatistiraki.

With the above, the Greek Stock Exchange has overcome Morgan Stanley International’s reluctance to increase the number of companies in MSCI Standard Greece in previous days, with the Common Index climbing to new highs for the year, with 1,150 points being the nearest strong resistance line, the analyst adds. At the same time, political risk appears to have been mitigated by not accounting for the dominance of the ruling party in the poll, making a government scheme likely to form in the upcoming new elections.

In the international environment, however, the picture has not changed, as US concerns remain about the Fed’s upcoming interest rate policy, and the pending adjustment of the US government debt limit by Congress persists, with analysts estimating that even a temporary default could send US stocks down 30% .