S&P report takes heavy toll on stocks
The Standard & Poor’s report on Greek banks inflicted fresh losses on their respective stocks and sealed the benchmark’s end-of-week fate, as it posted the biggest weekly drop of 2014, giving up 7.35 percent from last Friday.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,209.97 points, contracting 1.34 percent from Thursday’s 1,226.45 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 25 had 1.32 percent deducted to close at 390.40 points.
In a report late on Thursday, S&P classified the local banking sector as top-risk, along with Egypt and Belarus. It stressed the impact of fiscal problems on the sector, the high credit risk and the significant funding imbalances. It particularly drew attention to the considerably higher bank losses in Greece compared to countries with a similar level of private sector leverage.
Marfin Investment Group outperformed among blue chips with its 6.38 percent rise, while Mytilineos was the worst off, giving up 4.84 percent, and Titan Cement conceded 4.11 percent.
In total 44 stocks reported gains, 72 registered losses and 22 remained unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 116.7 million euros, up from Thursday’s 104.6 million.
