Blue chips fuel the rise
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index maintained its upward momentum last week, gaining 0.98 percent, or 21.49 points to close Friday at 2,208.73 points. Weekly turnover, including block trades, dropped to 726.16 million euros, an average of 145.23 million euros per session, from 891.13 million euros the previous week. Three of the four Financial Times indices ended higher: The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips rose 1.70 percent to close at 1,123.17 points, while the FTSE/ASE Mid-40 rose 0.26 percent. On the other hand, the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 fell 1.84 percent. The FTSE/ASE-140, a composite of the above three, rose 1.12 percent to close at 2,581.87 points. Sectoral indices were divided, with 10 ending with losses and eight with gains. The biggest gains were made by holding companies (2.08 percent), followed by banks (1.80 percent) and non-metallic minerals and cement (1.35 percent). Losers were led by publishing and printing stocks (5.24 percent), followed by IT equipment and solutions (4.54 percent) and insurance (3.03 percent). Of the 368 shares traded, 98 gained, 247 declined and 23 remained unchanged. Papastratos led all gainers (23.42 percent), followed by ANEK’s preferred (90) shares (12 percent) and GEK (10 percent). Losers were led by Alsinco (34.42 percent), Informatics (27.50 percent) and Xifias Fisheries (18.75 percent). The week’s most marketable securities were Vodafone-Panafon, with an average daily turnover of 11.95 million euros, OPAP (10.13 million) and Public Power Corporation (9.42 million).
