Daily Report 21-08-2013 Manos Chatzidakis 9:23 π.μ. Market Comment

The sell-off in Greek equities continued as the General Index recorded losses 9.4% in the last five trading sessions. Specifically, the General Index declined by 3.33% with the trading volume shaping at EUR 54m. The banking index retreated by 3.12% while the warrants of NBG and Alpha Bank lost 10.8% and 8.81% respectively. Besides banks, the pressures have spread across the board with Viohalko (-8.58%), PPC (-7.10%), Titan (-7.11%) and Hellenic Petroleum being the major underperformers. On the other side, PPA (1.45%) was the only one closed on positive territory among FTSE 25 components. For today’s session we expect the market to rebound after the heavy losses of the last two trading days.

          In the Spotlight

Budget execution: According to Greek Finance Ministry, Greek central government deficit stood at 1.9 billion euros vs

target of 7.5 billion euros deficit and deficit of 13.2 billion euros in year-earlier period. Budget shows surplus of 2.6 billion euros before interest payments vs a year ago primary deficit of 3 billion euros. The above figures confirm preliminary reading on August 12^th .

Banks: Greek bank reliance on ECB liquidity stood at 62 billion euros at the end of July compared with 61.1 billion euros at the end of June, according to Bank of Greece. Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), which is extended by the Bank of Greece, was 16 billion euros vs 20.9 billion euros in June.

Greek debt: Greek central government debt at the end of 2Q13 stood at 321.4 billion euros vs 309.4 billion euros at the end of March 2013, according to Greek Finance Ministry. Government cash reserves in 2Q13 reached 4.4 billion euros vs 7 billion euros at the end of March 2013. Financial Support Mechanism loans stood at 210.3 billion euros vs 191.1 billion euros at the end of March 2013.

Troika: According to press reports (Sueddeutsche Zeitung), third aid program for Greece announced by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble yesterday which will be partially financed through EU budget. Transfers to Greece from EU budget or budgets of EU member states would be the only option if higher Greek debt is to be avoided. Third program for Greece will be significantly smaller in the scope than the first two and conditionality will be less stringent because Greece has already introduced some of the necessary changes.

HRADF: According to press reports (Kathimerini), the government’s privatization agency, HRADF, is reportedly trying to expedite the sale of Thessaloniki Port Authority (TPA) so that it can be combined with that of Hellenic Railways’ operating company, Trainose.

PPC: The Q2/H1 2013 financial results of Public Power Corporation will be released on Thursday, August 29, 2013, before the opening of the ASE trading session.

Intralot: S&P raises Intralot rating to 'B+' from 'B-' and removing it from credit watch positive. As well as S&P affirms 'B+' issue rating on the company's senior unsecured notes. In addition, S&P set outlook to stable reflecting the possibility of raising the rating on Intralot by one notch if the company is able to successfully address its 2014 maturities, while growing its profitability and generating positive free operating cash flows.