The stock market ended the first quarter of 2024 with a gain of 9.99%, although in March it recorded a slight decline (-0.17%), interrupting the upward streak of the previous four months.

The Greek stock market, at the end of the quarter, is in the ninth place of returns worldwide, among the international markets, falling from the fourth place it was in the first two months.

Average daily trading activity itself soared to pre-Lehman Brothers levels, more than 15 years ago. The average daily transaction value shot up, mainly in March, an increase largely due to the start of trading of Piraeus shares, in the context of the 27% placement.

The average daily transaction value in the first quarter of 2024 was €146.046 million, up 32% compared to 2023.

The average daily transaction value in 2023 was 111.0 million euros, marking an increase of 50.6% compared to 2022 (73.7 million euros).

In particular in the month of March the average daily value of transactions soared to 225.228 million euros, from 125.892 million euros in February and 100.5 million euros in January 2024.

The total value of transactions in the first quarter amounted to 8.909 billion euros, of which 4.054 billion euros related to transactions in March, 2.644 billion euros in February and 2.211 billion euros in January.

At the same time the market capitalization is a breath away from 100 billion euros. The total market capitalization increased in the first quarter of 2024 by 9.947 billion euros.

The entry of AIA to the A.X., the sale of 27% of the shares of Piraeus, the Placement of Ethniki last November, combined with the performance of the Greek economy and the recovery of the investment grade brought new international investment funds to the Greek capital market, contributing decisive in the significant increase in transactions in the stock market.

“The Piraeus transaction has no precedent no matter how far back we go. A secondary sale of this amount of share capital, with such a large over-coverage by investors of such quality and at a premium has no historical precedent”, as stated by the CEO of the HFSF, Mr. Ilias Xirouhakis .

The success of the disposal of the percentage of the shares of the HFSF (27%) of Piraeus is recorded as the largest privatization in history through a secondary placement with the amount of the price reaching 1.35 billion euros.

In the case of Ethniki, the divestment of 22% of the HFSF collected 8 billion with the total price amounting to 1.067 billion.

The iconic introduction of El. Venizelos, last February it was not just a new company introduction but a move that re-introduced the Greek market abroad.

In general, investors’ interest in Greek assets is increasing sharply after the recovery of the investment grade. A fact that is reflected in the large offers for Greek assets, which exceeded 60 billion euros, within the last 5 months.

The coverage of the issues of AIA and Piraeus, as well as of Ethniki last November, brought back to the Greek market major international “players” such as Capital Group, Fidelity, BlackRock, Lazard,, Norges, etc.

Returns in 3 months

The large-cap index closed the two-month period with gains of 9.53%, the mid-cap index with a gain of 6.35%, while the banking index gained 12.56%.

The highest performance, in the January-March 2024 quarter, was recorded by the shares: Q&R (+120.83%), Moda Bango (+72.02%), Kyriakoulis (+59.53%) and Evrofarma (+50.00%) .

On the contrary, the biggest decline was recorded by the shares: Akritas (-26.61%), Progressiveti (-23.16%), Kecrops (-19.49%) and Klukinas-Lappas (-14.86%).

Of the high capitalization shares, the biggest increase was recorded by the shares of Sarantis (+40.48%), GEK TERNA (+28.27%), PPA (+24.14%), Titan (+24.01 %), Piraeus (+21.25%), Motor Oil (+16.75%), Ethniki (+15.36%), ELPE (+14.56%), Terna Energy (+13 .33%), Coca Cola HBC (+11.13%), Aegean (+10.58%) and Eurobank (+10.56%). Smaller gains are recorded by OPAP (+8.52%), Jumbo (+6.29%), Quest (+6.14%), Elvalhalcor (+6.05%), OTE (+5.97 %), Alpha Bank (+5.91%), Viohalco (+5.32%), PPC (+4.21%), Autohellas (+4.07%) and Ellaktor (+3, 14%). On the contrary, the shares of Mytileneos (-2.56%), EYDAP (-1.65%) and Lamda (-0.15%) closed the quarter down.