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Athens stock exchange: The bittersweet taste of 2024 and the Christmas gifts

(ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΠΑΝΑΓΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ/ EUROKINISSI)

The gains in the last month of 2024 have exceeded +5.4%

The General Index on the Athens Stock Exchange has shown an average return of +13.5% since the beginning of the year, as the first half of December has largely restored the investment climate and has brought the Greek market back on track to converge with the “peaks” of 1,502 points.

Moreover, the gains in the last month of 2024 have exceeded +5.4%, with the stock exchange counting 7/9 positive sessions, and the banks as the main “protagonists”, having been strengthened by almost +13% over the same period, and having expanded this year’s performance of the sectoral index to levels above +22%.

Somehow, the Greek market, which records a cumulative change of around 100 points from the November lows (1,366 points on 11/19), is slowly preparing to say goodbye to the fourth consecutive profitable year.

This translates into a cumulative increase of at least +81% since the end of 2020, as well as at least +200% from the pandemic lows of 484 points (March 16, 2020).

Nevertheless, this year seems to leave a … bittersweet taste. It is another year of positive returns, but investors are feeling dissatisfied. And this is partly justified, if we take a look at what is happening abroad.

The +13.5% of the General Index falls short of the corresponding returns in Europe, such as the DAX, which is at historically high levels, despite the fact that the German economy is underperforming compared to the Greek one.

As for the remaining sessions of 2024, investors expect that the stock market will receive some of the traditional ‘gifts’ of the year-end.