GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 815.54 posting losses of 0.50%, in a turnover of €106.67mn.

The Greek Prime Minister Mr. Antonis Samaras called his government’s two junior coalition partners to back the €13.5bn austerity and reforms package or otherwise see the country being led into chaos. He added that the talks on the cuts and tax hikes have ended and that his government did the best it could. The junior coalition partner Democratic Left issued a statement saying that it is «not in agreement» with the conclusion of negotiations with troika for labor relations. The draft budget for 2013 is due to go to Parliament today, while the euro-zone will hold a conference call today.

The ECB policy maker Mr. Ewald Nowotny said that Spain might have the luxury of time to delay a request for bailout funds but the timetable for Greece is more urgent. He is less optimistic about Greece’s near-term prospects, however, arguing that there was a greater sense of urgency to find funds for Greece by mid-November.

The German Economy Minister Mr. Philip Roesler said that all future aid to Greece should be paid into an escrow account to ensure greater compliance with agreed plans.

Corporate Impacts

• Hellenic Petroleum:The Company plans to start its Okta facility in FYROM after a seven-month halt
  over the next few days. The plant has the capacity to process about 50k barrels of crude a day.
• NBG, Eurobank:NBG will hold another shareholder meeting on November 12 for a vote on its offer to take over Eurobank after yesterday’s assembly did not achieve the required quorum.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 296-290-284. Resistance levels: 310-318-326.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 819.61 posting heavy losses of 6.28%, after rumours of far-from-favourable recapitalization terms, in a turnover of €115.26mn. The banking sector took its worst beating in the last 12 months, as the refusal by Greece’s creditors to allow Greek banks to swap their state bonds with EFSF securities disappointed the market.

The European Commission spokesman Mr. Simon O’ Connor said that there is no specific timetable for the troika of official lenders to complete their talks with Greece. We remind that the euro-zone will hold a conference call on tomorrow. The Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker said that a meeting of ministers will probably hold on November 8, but decisions are unlikely at this meeting.

The German government spokesman Mr. Steffen Seibert said that a write-down of Greece’s debt is out of the question. He added that no date of when the troika report will be presented has yet been set, although all parties are working with great pressure.

The French President Mr. Francois Hollande said that France will wait for a report of a troika, before deciding on the best way to approach the problem. The troika report is expected in coming days and he added that he wants the Euro-group of finance ministers to find a “durable” solution to Greece’s debt problems at their November meeting. The IMF chief Ms. Christine Lagarde is due in Berlin today for talks with the German Chancellor Ms. Angela Merkel after meeting in Paris yesterday with the French President Mr. Francois Hollande.

The Governing Council member Mr. Ewald Nowotny said that the ECB is banned from taking part in a Greek debt restructuring, because it would be tantamount to printing money to finance governments.

Corporate Impacts

• Greek Banks:The banks will delay announcing their six-month results for another month to the end of November, as Greece works to finalize the recapitalization plan for its struggling financial sector. According to press reports, banks will be required to maintain a Common Equity Ratio of 6% on risk weighted assets and a Core Tier 1 of 9% and as a result the relationship between common shares and CoCos will vary depending on the amount of existing common equity. The shareholders who participate in the capital increase process will receive warrants, enabling them to buy shares from HFSF. The warrants will be listed and they will be exercisable every six months In addition to this, the HFSF did not accept the Greek Government Bonds to be marked at par value, but it accepted the calculation of deferred tax assets in the capital ratios.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 302-296-288. Resistance levels: 314-322-330.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 874.54 posting losses of 0.76%, in a turnover of €47.82mn, after the preliminary report of IMF that the Greek debt will be above the target of 120% of GDP in 2020.

The Euro Working Group of euro-zone finance ministry officials will convene again today to discuss whatever conclusions Greece has come to. A Eurogroup through a video conference will take place on Wednesday in order to discuss about Greece. The Democratic Left Mr. Fotis Kouvelis insisted on an improvement in the terms concerning labour reforms that it staunchly opposes. The Prime Minister Mr. Antonis Samaras appears determined to have the measures passed through Parliament this week, in either one or two draft laws.

The German Finance Minister Mr. Wolfgang Schaeuble rejected a debt restructuring for Greece, saying that it is unrealistic to expect public or private bondholders to take losses on their Greek holdings.

The Dutch Finance Minister Mr. Jan Kees de Jager said that the Netherlands is not willing to give Greece more time to implement its reforms.

Corporate Impacts

• Telecommunication Companies:Wind Hellas announced that it had submitted an offer to listed internet service provider Forthnet for the acquisition of its fixed-line telephony arm. The bid does not include Nova, Forthnet’s pay TV network.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 328-320-316. Resistance levels: 340-344-352.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 881.22 posting losses of 0.96%, in a turnover of €89.79mn.

The Labour Minister Mr. Yiannis Vroutsis said that negotiations with troika were ongoing as objections by the coalition’s junior partner, Democratic Left, to labour reforms proposed by troika continued to pose an obstacle to a final rubber stamp on the deal. The Finance Minister Mr. Yannis Stournaras said that the government will present the budget cutting plan despite its junior coalition partner’s refusal.

The EWG will examine the agreement between Greece and the troika and will focus on how the funding gap of Greece until 2016 will be covered, provided that Greece will get a two-year extension to its streamlining program, as well as how the sustainability of the Greek debt will be secured.

Corporate Impacts

• Banks:Fitch views the renewed consolidating initiatives involving the four major Greek banks (NBG, Eurobank, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank) as a positive step towards the restructuring of the banking sector and the banks’ ratings over the medium term. These moves should help create a smaller number of more efficient and viable institutions that will be better placed to cope with the country’s sovereign crisis and weak economic prospects.
• CCH, OPAP:MSCI said that it will not discontinue the Greece index after CCH’s exit. It will exceptionally maintain at all times at least two constituents in the MSCI Greece Index until further communication. Opap is the second stock in the MSCI Greece, accounting for 25% of the gauge’s weight.
• Cypriot Banks:The Cyprus President Mr. Dimitris Christofias will visit his French counterpart Mr. Francois Hollande in Paris today. Mr. Christofias expects the troika to return as soon as possible to Cyprus for further negotiations and he added that he had already had contacts with top officials within the EU for them to exercise pressure on the troika to return to Nicosia.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 330-324-318. Resistance levels: 340-344-352.

GREEK FINANCIAL MARKET

The General Index in Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed at 889.78 posting profits of 1.86%, in a turnover of €103.03mn.

The Finance Minister Mr. Yannis Stournaras said that there is an agreement between the government and the troika on all aspects of the austerity and reform program and the coalition is likely to be in a position to submit the measures to Parliament by the end of the week.

The measures of the new bailout memorandum will now be drafted in two bills that will be tabled in Parliament. Mr. Stournaras also said that Greece would inform the Euro Working Group of the status of negotiations when technical staff meet in Brussels on Friday and Monday, ahead of the next Eurogroup meeting on November 12. Mr Stournaras added that Greece has achieved an extension to meet the terms of its international bailout program and Greece is seeking to reduce its debt by lowering the interest paid to creditors and paying back the money over a longer period of time. Without the extension, the country would have had to impose measures of €18.5bn instead of €13.5bn.

Earlier, the German government denied the newspaper report of Sueddeutsche Zeitung that Greece’s lenders have agreed to extend the time that Athens has to complete its fiscal adjustment by two years, saying that they are still waiting for the troika report from Greece. However, the German Finance Minister Mr. Wolfang Schaeuble said that the German parliament would likely pass a third aid package for Greece was it necessary (Die Zeit).

The ECB President Mr. Mario Draghi said that there still was no recommendation from the troika committee of experts about the status of Greece’s economic reform.

Corporate Impacts

• PPC:The government must submit in November the company’s restructuring plan with a view to its privatization as it will include the sections of the company that will be privatized, along with a timetable for their sale.
• OPAP:Goldman Sachs raised its target price to €4.60 from €4.40 in a report that is widely seen as a vote of confidence for the Greek economy in general.

Technical

FTSE 20 September future:

Support levels: 330-325-320. Resistance levels: 344-350-355.