Q1 ends with bourse index gains at roughly 15 pct
After a hesitant start to Monday’s bourse session, Greek stocks put their early losses behind them to end the day on a high, with the benchmark posting total gains of 14.88 percent in the first quarter of the year, an impressive performance by any standard.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,335.74 points, adding 0.59 percent to Friday’s 1,327.87 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 0.40 percent to 430.36 points.
On a day when most listed companies issued their results for 2013, small-caps outperformed, with their index adding 1.17 percent, while the mid-cap index gained 0.88 percent. Observers say that in most cases the aspirations harbored are hardly justified by the figures, but stress that investors are always eager to buy hope.
Blue chips painted a mixed picture, with Piraeus Bank outperforming with growth of 5.26 percent. Hellenic Exchanges added 2.13 percent. Frigoglass posted the biggest losses (down 4.07 percent), followed by Alpha Bank (1.38 percent).
In total, 79 stocks recorded a rise, 61 suffered a decline and 16 ended unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 97.2 million euros, up from last Friday’s 83.4 million.
