A slight rise in a directionless market
Shares closed slightly higher yesterday, with the Athens Water Supply and Sewage Company (EYDAP) outperforming ahead of a tender for its stake. «There was no trend in the market today. The positive close was helped by the rosy picture in European bourses,» said analyst George Grigoriou at Eurocorp Securities. The benchmark general index added 0.18 percent to 2,118.46 points in thin trading volume, which fell to 118.87 million euros on 25.7 million shares traded. EYDAP shares added 1.95 percent to 6.28 euros as investors cheered news of its upcoming stake sale. A Finance Ministry source said yesterday an international tender for the sale of about 20 percent of the utility would be launched possibly next week. Mobile phone and accessories retailer Germanos rose 0.11 percent to 18 euros, not far off from a year-high of 18.12 euros set two days earlier after it announced a 100-million-euro 10-year cooperation deal with Germany’s Atlas Elektronik GmbH. Telecom equipment maker Intracom was off 1.57 percent to 6.26 euros after its management hinted that full-year sales would drop by 5 percent and pretax earnings by 15 percent, local media reported. Advancers led decliners 163 to 114, with 78 unchanged on 355 traded. (Reuters)
