ATHEX: Banks and PPC buoy index higher
The narrow range within which the Greek bourse benchmark moved on Wednesday didn’t prevent blue chips from notching up gains, even though the majority of stocks remained in the red. National and Eurobank made the difference for banks, carrying the rest of the large-caps higher too, along with PPC.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 906.57 points, adding 0.50% to Tuesday’s 902.09 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.61% to end at 2,194.14 points.
The banks index advanced 0.28%, with National growing 1.04% and Eurobank ascending 0.57%, as Alpha stayed put and Piraeus conceded 1%. PPC collected 3.41%, Hellenic Petroleum rose 2.17%, Aegean Air was up 1.97% and Coca-Cola HBC earned 1.70%.
In total 48 stocks reported gains, 54 posted losses and 18 remained unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 50 million euros, up from Tuesday’s €48.1 million.
The bourse will be closed on Thursday due to the national holiday and reopen for business on Friday.
In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange decreased 0.61% to close at 65.66 points.
