Stocks continued their rise yesterday, though not as sharply as witnessed on Monday, as early gains were halved during the course of the day.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,561.80 points yesterday, rising by 2.21 percent from last Monday, although during the session it had temporarily registered an increase of 4.85 percent. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index expanded by 2.69 percent to end at 1,421.93 points.

The biggest gains among blue chips were for the stocks of Bank of Cyprus (up 8.40 percent), Marfin Popular Bank (6.25 percent), Viohalco (6.25 percent), EFG Eurobank (5.08 percent), Piraeus Bank (4.39 percent) and Mytilineos (4.09 percent). Worst off were Coca-Cola HBC (down 4.37 percent) and Titan cement (1.58 percent).

Turnover reached 377.1 million euros.