General index slips 0.34 pct, ends week almost flat
Late-session buying helped trim losses on the Athens bourse yesterday after the market dipped by nearly 1 percent in midsession trade on news of gloomy US retail sales figures. Brokers said the market recovered partly on US consumer confidence data but that local sentiment remains weak as the bourse remains 295 points below September 11 levels. (The day’s trading pattern) is due to news released concerning the retail figures from the United States and then the consumer confidence data, which remained high, said Petros Tegopoulos, analyst at Axon Securities. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index eased 0.34 percent to 2,260.10 points. Overall the market gained 10 points for the week. Blue chips on the FTSE/ASE index shed 0.15 percent to 1,258.31 points. Mid-caps retreated 0.34 percent to 232.71 points while small-caps lost 0.79 percent. Turnover was 94.05 million euros on 20.3 million shares traded. Losers beat winners 220 to 95 with 44 shares unchanged on 359 traded. Starting on Monday, the bourse’s new trading hours until January 31, 2002 will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time.(Reuters) USA
