Surging heavyweight OTE lifts bourse
Greek stocks jumped out of the gate yesterday, led higher by a revival in bourse heavyweight OTE which rose 8.74 percent to 9.7 euros. The Athens benchmark general index gained 3.59 percent to 1,768.85 points. «I think we’re seeing a bit of a delayed reaction to the first-quarter results,» said analyst Dimitris Yiannoulis at Alpha Finance. Hellenic Petroleum fell 1.66 percent to 5.94 euros, the second most heavily traded stock on the bourse, after news late Friday that it will merge with domestic rival Petrola. Brokers said investors were unconvinced by the plan, saying Hellenic had little to gain from the merger. The bourse’s sub-index of the country’s six biggest banks rose 5.2 percent. Blue chips rose 4.69 percent to 882.82 points, while mid-caps rose 2.27 percent and small-caps advanced 3.94 percent. Turnover eased to 136.44 million euros from Friday’s 161.36 million euros as 31.06 million shares changed hands. Advancers led decliners 309 to 29 with 23 shares unchanged on 361 traded. (Reuters)
