Blue chips lead market
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general price index closed on Thursday at 1,633.06 points, a gain of 29.27 points, or 1.83 percent, from the previous week’s close. Three of the four sessions in this shortened week ended with gains; the exception was Wednesday. The stock market will also be closed today, in line with other international bourses closed for the Catholic and Protestant Easter holiday. It will also be closed next Friday and Monday for Orthodox Easter. Despite having one session less, weekly turnover rose from 447.35 million euros in the previous week to 481.65 million, an average per session of 120.41 million. Among the Financial Times indices, the FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips rose 2.79 percent to 795.18 points. By contrast, the mid-cap FTSE/ASE-40 fell 0.91 percent and the small-cap FTSE/ASE-80 dropped 0.97 percent. The FTSE/ASE-140, a composite of the above three indices, rose 1.74 percent, to 1,833.81 points Most sectoral indices registered gains. The gainers were led by telecommunications, up 5.22 percent, retail trade (2.05 percent) and refineries (1.93 percent). The biggest losses were registered by textiles (7.42 percent), wholesale commerce (4.40 percent) and basic metals (4.03 percent). Of the 369 stocks traded, 137 gained, 210 fell and 22 remained unchanged. Gainers were led by Stabilton’s preferred stock, up 41.67 percent and the Thessaloniki Port Authority (38.42 percent). At the losing end were Xifias Fisheries and Alisida, which fell 24.24 percent and 23.03 percent, respectively. OTE Telecom was again the most marketable security, with an average turnover of 15.12 million euros per session.
