ATHEX: Stock market compass points firmly to the south
The Greek stock market on Friday chalked up four losing sessions out of four so far this year – despite early gains that saw the benchmark rise more than 1 percent – to end up dropping 7.19 percent from the previous week, as banks once again led the losers. This has been the worst start to the trading year that the bourse has witnessed in the last 15 years.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 585.98 points, shedding 0.81 percent from Thursday’s 590.75 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 1.12 percent to close at 167.29 points, although small-caps posted gains of 1.19 percent.
The banks index suffered weekly losses of 13.12 percent, with National falling 3.73 percent on Friday and Piraeus giving up 3.04 percent. Eurobank advanced 0.74 percent.
Aegean Air outperformed with gains of 3.28 percent, while Hellenic Petroleum slid 3.75 percent.
In total 45 stocks went up, 50 declined and 14 closed unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 87.8 million euros, down from Thursday’s 113.4 million.