Bourse rise continues
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) benchmark general index ended on Friday at 2,194.99 points, a gain of 73.93 points, or 3.49 percent, for the week. Four of the week’s five sessions ended with gains. The weekly turnover dropped to 744.28 million euros, a daily average of 148.86 million, down from 976.50 million euros the previous week, marked by the successful third sale of a stake in state-controlled electricity firm Public Power Corporation (PPC). Interest was strongest in small-caps: the FTSE/ASE Small Cap 80 rose 3.58 percent and the FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 3.52 percent to close at 1,101.03 points, while the FTSE/ASE Mid-40 gained 2.95 percent. The FTSE/ASE-140, a composite of the above three, gained 3.43 percent, to close at 2,560.77 points. All sectoral indices recorded gains. The biggest gainers were holding companies (9.55 percent), basic metals (8.62 percent), insurance (5.22 percent) and textiles (5.19 percent). Of the 373 stocks traded, 307 gained, 49 ended with losses and 17 remained unchanged. Gainers were led by Ballis Chemicals (23.86 percent), VIS’s preferred stock (22.37 percent) and Perseus (21.21 percent). The biggest losers were Paperpack-Tsoukaridis (16.42 percent), Allatini (6.98 percent) and Compucon (5.80 percent). The most heavily traded stock was PPC, with an average turnover per session of 21.70 million euros. It was followed by National Bank (12.16 million) and Alpha Bank (7.78 million).
