ATHEX: Oil, China set backdrop for bourse’s Blue Wednesday
Forget about Blue Monday – this was Blue Wednesday for the Greek stock market, which saw banks leading the way south on global concerns about the slowdown in the Chinese economy and the drop in oil rates. This is shaping up to be the worst January for the benchmark in the last 25 years, as it has given up 16.6 percent in just the first 20 days of the year.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 526.44 points, shedding 5.70 percent from Tuesday’s 558.25 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index slumped 7.37 percent to end at a new historic low of 144.01 points.
The banks index contracted 11.98 percent, as Piraeus fell 17.62 percent, Eurobank slumped 14.79 percent, Alpha lost 10 percent and National declined 7.20 percent. However, Credit Suisse anticipates long-term gains of 54 percent for National and 42 percent for Alpha.
Utilities also suffered as PPC gave up 9.04 percent and OTE telecom fell 8.54 percent.
In total 22 stocks enjoyed gains, 92 took losses and 15 closed unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 83.9 million euros, up from Tuesday’s 58.2 million.
