With a mild rise of 0.22%, the stock market closed the week ending, with the General Price Index touching 13-year highs (1,434 points) and the market absorbing without much turbulence any corrective movements.

The climate in the international markets is positive, as the main Wall Street stock indices climbed to new historical highs, in the environment created by the Fed giving the forecast for three interest rate cuts this year, while the pan-European STOXX 600 index also reached a new historical high .

The Fed kept interest rates steady at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5%, but officials forecast three cuts through 2024.

ECB President Christine Lagarde confirmed the possibility of the first rate cut in June.

The positive reports for Greek banks continue. Deutsche Bank increased its target prices for Greek banks, pointing out that it is a top position for many investors, due to the largely improved profitability and resilience, as well as improved market liquidity following the disinvestment of the HFSF.

Deutsche Bank raises the target price for Alpha Bank to 2.20 euros from 2.15 euros before, for Piraeus to 4.20 euros from 3.95 euros, for Eurobank to 2.55 euros from 2.40 euros and for the National Team it gives a new target price of 8.95 euros from 8.30 euros previously.

Optima Bank expects another strong year for domestic banks. It gives a “buy” recommendation and a target price of €2.41 for Eurobank and €5.00 for Piraeus, which are its top picks in the sector. For Ethniki the target price is 9.20 euros, while for Alpha Bank it is 2.10 euros. As Optima points out, Greek banks are trading at an estimated 2024 P/E of 5.93, at a 26% discount to EU banks, and a P/TBV book value ratio of 0.78, at a 30% discount.

The General Price Index closed the week at 1,425.16 points, compared to 1,422.03 points the previous week, marking a mild weekly increase of 0.22%. Since the beginning of 2024, the main stock index has recorded gains of 10.21%.

The FTSE/ASE 25 large-cap index closed the week with a small gain of 0.15% and since the beginning of 2024 is up 9.97%. The FTSE MID mid-cap index closed down 0.24% for the week, with a year-to-date gain of 6.92%.

The banking index closed the week with a rise of 0.79%, while since the beginning of 2024 it has gained 14.69%.

The total value of transactions in the four sessions this week was €550.242 million, while the average daily value of transactions was €137.560 million, up from €246.577 million last week.

The total market capitalization this week increased by 186 million euros and reached 98.005 billion euros, while since the beginning of the year it has increased by 10.12 billion euros.