ATHEX: Local bourse benchmark clears 600 pts
The continued growth in daily turnover at the Greek bourse on the rebalancing of indices partly helped the market benchmark to clear the 600-point level on Wednesday. However, what appears to have given it that extra shove was the report that the European Central Bank will resume accepting Greek bonds as collateral next month, restoring the waiver to the rule that had kept Greek banks in the wilderness of expensive borrowing.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 601.20 points, adding 3.09 percent to Tuesday’s 583.18 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 2.92 percent to end at 175.80 points.
All but one blue chip ended up in the green, led by EYDAP (up 10.98 percent), Hellenic Exchanges (9.09 percent), Hellenic Petroleum (8.42 percent) and Terna Energy (7.44 percent). Titan Cement was the only non-mover.
Banks had a quieter day by comparison, along with the rest of the large-caps, as Eurobank added 4.04 percent, Alpha rose 2.55 percent, National advanced 1.75 percent and Piraeus increased 0.71 percent.
In total 69 stocks posted gains, 29 took losses and 20 closed unchanged.
Turnover amounted to a remarkable 471.2 million euros, the highest of the last 10 sessions, up from Tuesday’s 327.7 million.
