Blue chip index drops below 500-point mark
When the eurozone summit agreed to provide Athens with a second bailout package last month, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said there was now a bottom to the barrel of the economy.
The same cannot be said about the local stock market yet, as it continued to bleed on Tuesday, with even steeper losses, to new lows unseen in the last 15 years.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 1,144.29 points, declining by 3.25 percent from Monday?s closing figure of 1,182.76 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index dropped 3.37 percent to end at 497.83 points, falling beneath the 500-point level for the first time since 1998.
All but two blue chips headed south, with Titan Cement (up 1.94 percent) and Viohalco (1.20 percent) bucking the trend. Piraeus Bank (down 7.87 percent), Ellaktor (7.46 percent), Marfin Investment Group (6.67 percent) and Public Power Corporation (4.76 percent) led the losers.
In total, 27 stocks moved up, 117 went down and 29 remained unchanged. Druckfarben Hellas posted the highest gains, which amounted to 9.38 percent, while Mailis was the worst off, shedding 12.50 percent.
Turnover came to 50.8 million euros on Tuesday, down from Monday’s 51.6 million euros.
