Index down despite publisher’s effort
Equities surrendered early gains and eased 0.39 percent yesterday as publisher Lambrakis Press outperformed on talk of merger activity in the sector. Lambrakis, listed on the Athens exchange’s mid-cap index, added 7.95 percent to 2.58 euros, bringing its gains in the last five sessions to more than 27 percent. «There was some talk of mergers among publishing companies and investors speculatively went buying,» said a fund manager. Telecom stocks also outperformed, gaining 1.37 percent. The Athens bourse benchmark index ended at 1,769.18 points after trading in a narrow 20-point range. Blue chips eased 0.42 percent while banks dropped 0.85 percent. Mid-caps dropped 1.01 percent and small-caps shed 1.74 percent. Turnover was 70.31 million euros with 15.9 million shares changing hands. Losers beat winners 259 to 56 with 38 shares unchanged on 353 traded. (Reuters)
