Still in sight of 2,200 pts
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index maintained its upward momentum last week, gaining 0.79 percent to 2,187.24 points, with a narrow fluctuation band of only 43.52 points. Lack of any major news held it back from crossing the 2,200-point barrier. Part of the market, however, showed independent strength and moved higher, mainly helped by nine-month results on which most buyers’ interest centered. Additionally, Vodafone’s public offer for subsidiary Panafon’s remaining free-float was in the spotlight, pushing the telecoms sectoral index up 3.26 percent. Weekly turnover, including block trades, dropped to 891.13 million euros, representing an average per session of 178.23 million, against 217.12 million in the previous week. All three FTSE/ASE indices ended higher, with the Small-Cap 80 leading with gains of 3.12 percent. The Mid-Cap 40 advanced 0.84 percent and blue chips 0.55 percent. All but three sectoral indices ended higher, with refineries, textiles, investment companies and non-metallic minerals all following telecoms with gains of more than 2 percent. Losers were led by the industrial index, which shed 1.47 percent. The heavyweight bank index edged less than 0.01 percent lower. Of the 368 shares traded, 222 gained, 112 declined and 34 remained unchanged. Vernicos Yachts led gainers with 26.57 percent, FG Europe was the biggest individual loser, receding 20.29 percent. The week’s most marketable securities were Vodafone-Panafon, OTE Telecom and Alpha Bank.
