Further drop to 5-yr low
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed on Friday at 1,540.74 points, a drop of 73.32 points, or 4.54 percent, from the previous week’s close. It is now at levels not seen since early 1998. Turnover declined significantly, to 335.62 million euros from 397.91 million the previous week, an average of 67.12 million euros per session. Among the Financial Times indices, the FTSE/ASE-40 mid-cap index resisted best, dropping 4.60 percent. The small-cap FTSE/ASE-80, on the other hand, fell 10.30 percent, while the FTSE/ASE-20 of blue chips dropped 4.93 percent, to 752.73 points. The FTSE/ASE-140, a composite of the previous three indices fell 5.41 percent to 1,707.55 points. All sectoral indices but one registered losses. The exception was retail commerce, which gained 0.41 percent. Hardest hit were textiles (11 percent), information technology (10.82 percent) and construction firms (8.25 percent). Of the 368 individual stocks traded last week, 308 registered losses, 49 advanced and 11 remained unchanged. Gainers were led by Hitech Consultants (22.93 percent), Alpha Trust-Asset Manager (19.62 percent), EKTER (18.24 percent), Lantek Communications (15.57 percent) and Newsphone Hellas (14.12 percent). The top losers were Allatini (59.72 percent), Ideal Group (41.30 percent), Space Hellas (40.37 percent) and Plias (40.32 percent). Once again, OTE Telecom was the most heavily traded stock, with an average turnover of 14.1 million euros per session. Attica Publications and Vodafone-Panafon followed far behind, with daily turnovers of 6.65 and 6.40 million euros, respectively.
