OTE, PPC go center stage
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general price index edged up last week, making marginal gains of 0.39 percent to close at 1,820.41 points on Friday, mainly thanks to a rally on Tuesday, when heavyweight utilities OTE Telecom and Public Power Corporation (PPC) rose 2.11 and 1.52 percent respectively. Total trading volume exceeded 800 million euros, with a daily average of 163.30 million euros. Of the Financial Times indices, the FTSE/ASE-20 of large-capitalization stocks was the only one to record gains, closing at 890.59 points, or 0.16 percent higher. By contrast, the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 and FTSE/ASE Mid-40 ended with losses of 1.38 and 0.73 percent respectively. Sectoral indices had a mixed performance. The biggest gains were realized by investment firms (2.49 percent) and telecommunications (1.64 percent). On the other hand, basic metals and textiles led the losers, ending 6.51 and 5.97 percent lower respectively. Of the 368 individual stocks traded, 134 recorded gains, 22 remained unchanged and 212 ended lower. The biggest weekly gains were realized by Piraeus Investment, which rose 30.97 percent and Stelios Kanakis, which ended 19.65 percent higher. The biggest losses were shown by Emborikos Desmos (36.46 percent) and Daring (34.97). The most heavily traded stock was PPC, 30.6 million shares or 13 percent of which were floated Thursday, with an average volume per session of 92.17 million euros. Investors took profits after subscribing to an IPO at a discount last week. OTE Telecom was the second most heavily traded stock, with an average daily value of 16.83 million euros.
