Index goes past 2,000
The Athens Stock Exchange benchmark general index ended last week at 2,085.49 points, a rise of 107.83 points or 5.45 percent from the previous week’s close. Four of the week’s five sessions ended with gains. Total turnover surged to 1,666.7 million euros, a large part of which involved the sale of a 24.4-percent stake in state soccer pools and lottery firm OPAP and the transfer of shares to private ownership on Wednesday. Interest was greater in small-capitalization stocks. Thus, the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 rose 8.13 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips went up 6.25 percent and the FTSE/ASE Mid-40 rose 4.82 percent. The FTSE/ASE-140, a composite of the previous three, rose 6.21 percent. All sectoral indexes ended with gains. Topping the list were publishing & printing (17.36 percent), followed by basic metals (9.66 percent) and IT solutions and equipment (7.91 percent). A total of 373 stocks were traded last week. Of these, 333 advanced, 31 fell and 9 remained unchanged. Tasoglou-Delonghi, Kor-Fil and Intersat led individual gainers, rising 71.11 percent, 62.84 percent and 50 percent, respectively. All three are volatile stocks whose fundamentals are far from sound. On the opposite end, losers were led by Compucon (down 20.62 percent), Eskimo’s preferred stock (16.86 percent), Kordellos Bros. (14.84 percent) and Despec Multimedia (10.40 percent). OPAP was the week’s most heavily traded stock, with an average daily turnover of 149.41 million euros, followed by OTE Telecom (15.29 million) and Public Power Corporation (6.89 million).
