ATHEX: National’s rise on unit sale fails to prop up Greek bourse
The growth recorded by National Bank shares on the announcement of the sale of its Turkish subsidiary for 2.75 billion euros was not enough to prop up the market benchmark on Tuesday. This came as no surprise as the Greek bourse had posted unexpectedly high gains in recent days.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 619.04 points, shedding 0.99 percent from Monday’s 625.24 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 0.84 percent to end at 180.38 points.
National expanded 6.13 percent (albeit at a significantly lower level than the day’s high, when it was up more than 10 percent) and accounted for 43 percent of the day’s trading volume in the Greek market, but all other bank chips headed south: Eurobank fell 3.70 percent on news it has sold its insurance arm, and Piraeus Bank dropped 1.67 percent. Aegean Air fell 4.95 percent.
In total 44 stocks registered gains, 54 suffered losses and 16 closed unchanged.
Turnover reached 194.8 million euros, down from Monday’s 294 million.
