GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 611.50 posting losses of 1.44%, in a turnover of €16.19mn, as S&P΄s revised Greece΄s outlook to negative, saying that the country will need more help from its international creditors.

EU officials indicated that a review of Greece’s economic reform progress by the troika would be issued in October and not in September as originally expected.

The Alternate Finance Minister Mr. Christos Staikouras said that the package of €11.5bn in measures must be finalized by September 14 when eurozone finance ministers are due to convene in Nicosia for a Eurogroup summit.

Corporate Announcements

08/09 OTE H1’12 results (before market) Market consensus: turnover stands at €2.37mn, EBITDA at €826mn and net profits at €393.2mn.

Corporate Impacts

• Mytilineos: The group announced a weak set for Q2 due to Metallurgy sector (Aluminium). The sales in H1’12 increased by 0.5% at €714.4mn, due to the strong performance of Energy sector. The EBITDA was €80mn vs. €107mn, while the net income was €8.5mn vs. €30.5mn in the same year-ago period.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 215-210-202. Resistance levels: 228-234-240.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 620.46 posting profits of 1.95%, in a turnover of €25.17mn.

The IMF is putting pressure on the eurozone to ease Greece’s bailout terms. The IMF wants to see the government debt ratio close to 100% of GDP in 2020, when Greece is supposed to have finished repaying €33bn in loans to the IMF (Wall Street Journal). The European Commission spokesman said that Greece has to bring its debt-to-gross domestic product ratio down to 120% by 2020, as agreed in the terms of the country’s second bailout, and not to 100% of GDP or another lower target.

The Finance Minister Mr. Yannis Stournaras after his meeting with the Greek president Mr. Karolos Papoulias said that Greece must finalize cuts of €3.5bn to €4bn from a total €11.5bn of austerity measures that have to be implemented in 2013 and 2014 to meet demands from international creditors.

The meeting between coalition leaders yesterday failed to yield any results, amid objections from ther partner Democratic Left to plans to revive a labor reserve scheme to reduce the public sector wage bill.

The Eurogroup President Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker said that a Greek exit from the euro zone would be manageable but is not desirable.

Greece sold €812.5mn of six-month T-bills yesterday, with the yield of 4.68% vs. 4.70% in the previous auction. The sale’s bid-cover ratio was 2.06, down from 2.16 (PDMA).

Corporate Announcements

08/08 Mytilineos, Metka H1’12 results (before market)
08/09 OTE H1’12 results (before market)

Corporate Impacts

• Cypriot Banks: The Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin accepted an invitation from the President Mr. Christofias to visit the island, during a telephone conversation the two had, in which they also examined the conditions for further economic cooperation between the two countries.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 216-210-202. Resistance levels: 230-236-242.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 608.62 posting profits of 1.76%, in a low turnover of €15.62mn.

The meeting between the three political leaders focused on privatizations’ issues. The Prime Minister Mr. Antonis Samaras assigned the government’s general secretary the preparation of a draft law that will include a total of 77 administrative acts to facilitate privatizations. Another meeting will be held at 6 p.m. today.

The Hellenic Republic will auction 26 Weeks T-Bills today. The amount to be auctioned is €625mn (previous interest rate: 4.70%).

Corporate Announcements

08/08 Mytilineos, Metka H1’12 results (before market)
08/09 OTE H1’12 results (before market)

Corporate Impacts

• Banks: NBG is going to submit a bid to buy Credit Agricole’s Emporiki Bank. Alpha Bank said last week it had made an offer for Emporiki, and Eurobank announced it is examining a buyout, but hasn’t submitted a proposal yet. Interest from the potential buyers is seen as being strong, according to industry people who expect all three bids to be tabled by the middle of the week (Reuters).
• Cypriot Banks: a) According to documents seen by Reuters, troika found the economy in a «worse state than expected» and in need of painful adjustment in coming months b) The Cypriot government said that the Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin and his Cypriot counterpart Mr. Demetris Christofias discussed further economic cooperation between the two countries during a phone conversation yesterday.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 212-208-200. Resistance levels: 228-236-242.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 598.12 posting profits of 0.91%, in a low turnover of €15.78mn.

The meeting between government ministers and the troika ended with the IMF envoy Poul Thomsen saying there had been great progress in finalizing a package of €11.5bn in budget cuts for 2013 and 2014. The troika will come back in early September. As far as the €3.2bn bond that expires on August 20 is concerned, there are no concerns, as the Eurogroup Chairman Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker had said that a technical solution will be found to cover the bond.

The Prime Minister Mr. Antonis Samaras and his coalition partners Mr.Evangelos Venizelos and Mr. Fotis Kouvelis are to meet today and tomorrow to discuss the outlook for privatizations and the merging of state organizations.

According to the German newspaper Die Welt, the ECB has saved Greece from bankruptcy for the time being by securing it interim financing in the form of additional emergency loans from the Bank of Greece.

Corporate Impacts

• Piraeus Bank: S&Ps affirmed its ‘CCC/C’ long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings. The outlook is negative, reflecting the possibility that the bank would default on its obligations. However, it expects the HFSF to provide further capital support to allow the bank to maintain an adequate regulatory capital position.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 208-200-196. Resistance levels: 222-230-236.

General Index:

Support levels: 590-570-550. Resistance levels: 612-635-660.