Bourse puts an end to four days of decline
Reports on the planned tie-up between Piraeus and Marfin Investment Group and the sale of a stake in Finansbank by National Bank of Greece were the main talking points during Wednesday’s bourse session. As a result, most stocks rebounded, but National registered a new nine-month low.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,178.12 points, adding 1.49 percent to Tuesday’s 1,160.81 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 expanded 1.34 percent to close at 379.31 points, while mid-caps grew 2.58 percent.
After four sessions of losses, the news of MIG’s convertible bond provided the springboard for the index to bounce back from its lowest point in 2014 on increased turnover. MIG rose by 1.03 percent, but it was OPAP that outperformed with gains of 5.66 percent. It was followed by Jumbo, which added 3.63 percent.
National sank further as the sale of a part of its holding in its Turkish subsidiary may well have an impact on earnings. Its stock fell 3.20 percent to 2.42 euros.
In total 74 stocks registered gains, 50 suffered losses and 24 remained unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 146.9 million euros, up from Tuesday’s 136.9 million.