Stocks declined yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with investors locking in gains in blue chips.

The ASE general index closed at 3,295.53 points, a drop of 16.99 points or 0.51 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined 0.65 percent to close at 1,841.95 points. Mid-caps gained a modest 0.02 percent while small-caps fell a slight 0.03 percent.

OTE Telecom and mobile telecommunications subsidiary CosmOTE came under selling pressure yesterday after scoring impressive gains in previous sessions. OTE dropped 1.85 percent to close at 17.02 euros, while CosmOTE dropped 2.43 percent to 16.06 euros.

Other blue chips that registered losses were OPAP (down 0.43 percent to 26.72 euros) and four of the five big banks: Alpha (1.22 percent to 22.72 euros), National (0.96 percent to 31.02 euros), Emporiki (0.87 percent to 25.10 euros) and Piraeus (0.73 percent to 16.28 euros).

Some blue chips gained, against the trend. They were Coca-Cola HBC (up 1.87 percent to 24.02 euros), Intracom (1.39 percent to 4.38 euros), PPC (0.58 percent to 20.90 euros) and Duty Free Shops (0.40 percent to 14.98 euros).

Of 331 traded stocks, 106 gained, 172 declined and 53 ended unchanged. Turnover fell slightly to 209.12 million euros, including 59.8 million in prearranged trade.