Bourse shakes off discounted Piraeus Bank transaction
The sale by Portugal’s BCP of its 4.64 percent stake in Piraeus Bank dominated Wednesday’s session at the Athens bourse, as it amounted to 74 percent of trading volume, which came to 667.8 million euros. The discount on the Piraeus stock dragged the benchmark lower until the last half-hour, when buyers took over again to lead the index higher at the end of trading.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,173.30 points, expanding 0.63 percent from Tuesday’s 1,143.77 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 increased by 0.65 percent to end at 389.99 points.
The closing auctions once again did the trick for the main index, taking its October gains to 16 percent one day before the end of the month.
Despite the 2.03 percent drop in the banks index, National spent the whole of the day in the green, ending with a rise of 4.56 percent. It was only beaten by Public Power Corporation (up 5.12 percent), while Motor Oil added 3.36 percent.
Piraeus Bank led the losers, giving up 9.76 percent, with water company EYDAP a distant second (down 2.59 percent).
In total, 79 stocks recorded gains, 58 suffered losses and 19 remained unchanged.
