Stocks on the Greek bourse continued to rise for a third straight session yesterday, despite a hesitant start, with interest focusing on mid-caps and small-caps for a change.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) closed at 3,446.75 points, a rise of 1.17 percent from last Friday. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index rose by 1.32 percent to 1,895.39 points.

Marfin Popular Bank led blue chips with a considerable growth of 9.42 percent, followed by ATEbank (up 5.63 percent), Public Power Corporation (4.63 percent) and Hellenic Post Bank (4.55 percent). The biggest losses were for OTE telecom (down 2.28 percent) and Hellenic Petroleum (1.45 percent).

Stealing the show yesterday were personal and household goods, whose index jumped by 4.03 percent. Telecommunications dropped by 2.28 percent. Turnover reached 240.2 million euros.