Small-caps get a boost
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index ended at 1,872.83 points on Friday, up 13.93 points, or 0.75 percent, from the previous week’s close. Three of the week’s five sessions ended with gains. The total volume of shares traded reached 829.53 million euros (an average daily volume of 165.91 million euros), against 465.88 million the week before. Most of the difference is due to the sale of France Telecom’s 10.5 percent stake in Vodafone-Panafon to parent company Vodafone. The strongest buying interest was for small-capitalization stocks, which led the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 index 3.47 percent higher. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips rose 0.45 percent and the FTSE/ASE Mid-40 index gained 0.25 percent. Most sectoral indices recorded gains. Publishing and printing companies were the biggest advancers (10.33 percent), followed by real estate (4.07 percent), wholesale commerce (3.84 percent) and IT equipment/solutions companies (2.70 percent). The three indices that sustained losses were foods and beverages (2.72 percent), insurance (1.60 percent) and retail commerce (0.79 percent). Of the 370 stocks traded last week, 233 gained, 115 fell and 22 remained unchanged. The top gainer was Stabilton’s preferred stock (75 percent), followed by Despec Tech. Holdings (40.30 percent) and Kekrops (33.17 percent). Dias Fisheries led the losers, declining 13.24 percent, followed by Ideal’s preferred stock (9.38 percent). The most heavily traded stock by far was Vodafone-Panafon, with an average value of 70.9 million euros per session, followed by OTE (14.31 million) and soccer pools and lottery firm OPAP (7.46 million).
