Index buckles under heavyweight OTE
Equities moved south yesterday, shrugging off a rally on European bourses, as index heavyweight OTE Telecom took heavy losses and fell to a new year-low. Brokers said investors were discounting weaker nine-month earnings in OTE as the telecom group moves to consolidate its largest foreign investment, Romtelecom. OTE fell 4.71 percent to 10.12 euros. It has lost close to 10 percent since last week’s announcement. But its cellular subsidiary, CosmOTE, outperformed, adding 2.91 percent to 9.90 euros. The stock has gained more than 10 percent since releasing nine-month earnings earlier this month, which beat market expectations. The Athens benchmark general index slipped 0.70 percent to 1,817.67 points. Mid-caps firmed 0.36 percent with small-caps gaining 0.53 percent. Blue chips shed 1.39 percent to 888.27 points, with banks dropping 1.21 percent. Turnover was 90.45 million euros on 24.0 million shares traded. Winners beat losers 163 to 139 with 59 shares unchanged on 361 traded. (Reuters)
