Volume goes down as investors consolidate
Shares ended with small gains yesterday on low volumes as fund managers appeared cautious two days after a strong rally, traders said. «Relatively low volume during the session shows investment funds’ reluctance to get into the market,» said Vassilis Antoniadis at Marfin Mutual Funds. «Consolidation at these levels after the recent rally, and while Europe is in the red, might favor a further rise in the market.» The benchmark general share index closed 0.10 percent up at 2,158.15 points. Shares in OTE Telecom gained 0.22 percent to 9.70 euros, while OTE’s mobile arm CosmOTE was among the winners of the day, closing 1.78 percent up at 10.28 euros. A source on the board of OTE told Reuters late on Tuesday the operator was tabling a bid to Norway’s Telenor to buy the latter’s 9 percent stake in CosmOTE. «The rally on CosmOTE today mainly traces back to that, it looks like OTE is really determined this time, after more than two years of discussing the buyout. This removed the overhang almost automatically,» a trader said. Turnover fell to 104.26 million euros, with 17.8 million shares changing hands. Decliners outweighed advancers 191 to 95, with 77 closing unchanged. (Reuters)
