ASE takes a late positive turn, thanks to OTE
Solid gains in index heavyweight OTE lifted the Athens bourse into positive territory yesterday as the market ended the week with overall gains of 3.7 percent. OTE’s defensive qualities and strong fundamentals have attracted buying interest, said a telecoms analyst. OTE Telecom outperformed, gaining 1.36 percent to 17.84 euros after rising 2.21 percent on Thursday. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index firmed 0.05 percent to 2,345.51 points, gaining 85.4 points for the week. Blue chips on the FTSE/ASE-20 index eased 0.08 percent to 1,309.82 points. The market’s late positive turn may also be connected to the expiration of October index futures, said Spyros Papathanasiou, analyst at Value Capital Securities. Closed-end fund Alpha Investments, a subsidiary of Alpha Bank, gained 1.94 percent to 3.16 euros. It reported a 76.4 percent drop in its nine-month profit to 18.6 million euros (6.32 billion drachmas). Mid-caps eased 0.16 percent while small-caps added 0.52 percent. Turnover totaled 107.08 million euros on 19 million shares changing hands. (Reuters) The media campaign focuses primarily on TV ads, print advertisements and the distribution of leaflets to get the message across to 12 different cultures.
