Greece's main index ended the trading day in positive territory on Monday, finishing at a five-year high as gains in banking, construction and travel stocks pushed the market higher.
Market close - The Athens General Composite rose 1.69% to close at a new five-year peak.
Top performers - Among individual counters, Alpha Bank SA (AT:ACBr) led the session’s advances, climbing 6.34% - an increase of 0.25 points to finish at 4.20. Ilyda SA Class R (AT:ILYr) added 5.79%, up 0.24 points to close at 4.30. Aegean Airlines (AT:AGNr) also contributed to the market's strength, gaining 4.68% or 0.57 points to end the session at 12.74.
Lagging names - Not all issues moved higher. Motor Oil Hellas Corinth Refineries SA (AT:MORr) fell 3.76%, a decline of 1.50 points, to close at 38.38. Plastika Thrakis Plastics Holdings SA (AT:THRr) dropped 3.36%, down 0.15 points to 4.32. Real estate developer Dimand Societe Anonyme for Real Estate Constructions (AT:DIMANDr) slipped 2.31%, a fall of 0.30 points, to finish at 12.70.
Breadth - On the Athens Stock Exchange, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by 74 to 40, while 17 stocks finished unchanged.
Commodities and markets - Commodity markets showed contrasting moves. Gold futures for August delivery climbed 3.42%, gaining $145.00 to trade at $4,383.80 a troy ounce. By contrast, crude benchmarks were weaker: the July contract for U.S. crude fell 5.69%, down $4.83 to $80.05 a barrel, and the August Brent contract slid 5.35%, down $4.67 to $82.66 a barrel.
Foreign exchange and other indicators - The euro traded essentially flat against major peers reported in the session: EUR/USD was unchanged at 1.16, recorded as a 0.35% change in the source data, and EUR/GBP was unchanged at 0.86, recorded as a 0.10% change. The U.S. Dollar Index Futures was reported down 0.26% at 99.24.
This session’s gains were concentrated in financials, construction and travel-related shares, while energy-refining and certain industrial and real estate listings underperformed. The overall market advance left the index at a five-year high, with a clear skew toward advancing issues at the close.