Assault on 2,500-point level fails once again
Shares ended with slight losses yesterday, retreating from earlier attempts to breach the 2,500 mark, with OTE Telecom outperforming on continued buying interest from foreign institutional investors. «We had a bit of a correction today, but in general there is an upward momentum in the market, allowing losses to be easily absorbed,» said Nikos Galousis, head of derivatives at Kappa Securities. «Since the start of the year, foreign institutionals investors have been positioning themselves in blue chips such as banks and OTE,» he added. The benchmark general share index ended 0.28 percent lower at 2,484 points, with losses over the week at 0.4 percent. The index has steadily climbed since the start of the year, gaining almost 10 percent. OTE bucked the trend, rising 2.02 percent to 12.12 euros, boosting its year-to-date gains to 15.6 percent. Cosmote added 0.85 percent. «Panafon’s expected delisting favors OTE and Cosmote as funds with telecoms exposure will shift to these two stocks,» said Galousis. Mid-caps fell 0.21 percent but small-caps rose 0.77 percent. Trading volume fell to 141.32 million euros, with 26.6 million shares changing hands. Decliners led advancers 145 to 140, with 68 stocks ending unchanged. (Reuters)
