Market Comment - In the Spotlight [Manos Chatzidakis]

 Market Comment

After the early morning rise up to the 1.024 points, General Index dived to 945 before settling for 958 at the end of Monday's session, as investors chose to cash in on the gains generated last week before the announcement of the banks’ stress test results on Sunday. 

Despite positive reports regarding Greek banks, pressure across the board is partly explained by the fact that Tuesday is a national holiday in Greece and investors took profits ahead of end of month on Friday. Turnover amounted to 187.6 million euros, up from last Friday’s 141.7 million. 

Nearly half of the turnover was during the first two hours of trading. The volatility of Monday’s session explains the high level of trading volume on the day. In total 33 stocks recorded gains, 90 sustained losses and 16 remained unchanged.

Improving investors sentiment in foreign markets may help market stabilize in today’s session while some negative exaggerations could be seen as short term buying opportunities.

Greece/Credit expansion:  According to Bank of Greece, the annual growth rate of total credit extended to the domestic private sector stood at -3.5% in September and unchanged from August 2014. 

Specifically, the net flow of total credit to the domestic private sector was -405 million euros vs -568 million euros in September 2013. 

The net flow of credit to corporations in September 2014 was -270 million euros versus -260 million in September 2013 and the annual growth rate of credit stood at -4.7%, compared with -4.6% in August.

In particular, the annual growth rate of credit to non-financial corporations stood at -4.5%, compared with -4.4% in the previous month, while the net flow of credit to non-financial corporations was -255 million euros vs -232 million euros in September 2013. 

The annual growth rate of credit to insurance corporations and other financial intermediaries stood at -7.2% in September 2014, compared with -7.4% in August. In September 2014, the net flow of credit to individuals and private non-profit institutions was -196 million euros vs -303 million euros in September 2013, while its annual growth rate stood at -2.9%, unchanged from the previous month.

Greece/Disposable income: Disposable income of households and non-profit institutions serving households fell to EU30.8b in 2Q from EU32.2b yr earlier

Greece/Deposits: Greek bank deposits rose in September for the seventh straight month, central bank data showed on Monday. Business and household deposits rose to 164.75 billion euros from 164.23 billion euros in August, the Bank of Greece said.

Alpha Trust Andromeda: Alpha Trust closed end fund announced loses €0.39m for the 9M period of 2014 vs €0,72m in 2013. NAV at the end of September was €25.14 per share posting a discount of 16% to its market price. Portfolio is allocated to stocks by 85.07%, bonds by 2.1% and cash by 12.83%.

NBG: NBG will announce its Q3 2014 results on Thursday, 6 November, at 17:30 local time. A conference call will follow at 18:00 on the same day for the presentation and discussion of results.

MIG/Attica Holdings: Attica Holdings announced the signing of an agreement for the sale of RoPax vessel Blue Star Ithaki to the Government of Canada, for a total cash consideration of Euro 31.2 million.  The conclusion of the agreement will take place upon delivery of the vessel to her new owners, which is scheduled for the first half of November, 2014 at the port of Piraeus. From the transaction, Attica Group is expected to book capital gains of approximately Euro 4 million which will appear in the company's 4th quarter 2014 financial results.

Ellaktor: Reportedly the Bulgarian authorities have terminated a contract with Aktor the construction of a motorway, budgeted at EUR 34.2mn.

Intralot: Following the approval from the Victorian Government in Australia, INTRALOT Australia announces the sale of its Category 2 lottery license assets in Victoria (operated also in Tasmania), Australia, to the Tatts Group, which currently holds the Category 1 Public lottery license, the primary license in the region. The transaction brings Victoria back to a monopoly status quo. Proceeds related to the transaction, including upfront fees, ongoing payments and cost savings, are estimated to reach up to $20m AUD. The Victorian lottery operation represented less than 2% of the Group's revenues in the first semester of 2014.