Greek Stocks Fall to One-Month Low as Banking, Telecoms Drag

Greek stocks ended the week on a downturn, with the main benchmark index falling to its lowest level in a month. The Athens General Composite index closed 1.15% lower on Friday, pressured by broad-based selling across several key industries.

Broad-Based Decline

The session's decline marked a new one-month low for the Athens General Composite. Market sentiment was decidedly negative, with falling stocks significantly outnumbering advancing ones on the Athens Stock Exchange by a margin of 84 to 34, while 16 stocks finished the day unchanged.

The sell-off was led by notable losses in the Banking, Telecommunications, and Household sectors, according to market data. This widespread weakness indicates a risk-off sentiment among investors in the Greek market at the close of the week.

Sector and Stock Movers

Among the session's biggest laggards was industrial company Viohalco SA, which saw its shares fall by 4.89%. Other significant decliners included Elvalhalcor Hellenic Copper and Aluminium Industry SA, down 3.84%, and Gek Terna, which dropped 3.60%.

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In contrast, a few companies bucked the negative trend. Retailer Jumbo SA was a top performer, gaining 2.98%, while Ilyda SA and Performance Technologies IT Solutions also posted modest gains of 1.72% and 1.59%, respectively.

Global Market Context

The decline in Athens occurred as commodity markets saw gains. Crude oil prices rose, with the August WTI contract climbing 2.80% to hit $81.16 a barrel and the September Brent contract up 2.67%.

Gold futures for August delivery also edged higher. In currency markets, the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP pairs remained relatively stable during the session, showing little change.