Blue chips lead way
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed at 2,372.77 points on Friday, a rise of 40.56 points or 1.74 percent, despite falling in three of the week’s five sessions. Total turnover was 589.53 million euros, slightly up from 564.06 million euros the previous week, with each session averaging 117.91 million. All FTSE indices rose, with buying interest focusing on blue chips. Thus the FTSE/ASE-20 index rose 2.56 percent, to 1,244.66 points. Mid-caps rose 1.91 percent and small-caps, 1.07 percent. The composite FTSE/ASE-140 gained 2.36 percent, to close at 2,756.44 points. Thirteen out of the 18 sectoral indices gained. The top gainers were banks (5.22 percent), followed by foods and beverages (4.21 percent) and information technology (4.17 percent). The top losers were construction (1.04 percent) and telecommunications (0.81 percent). Among the 369 stocks traded, 210 advanced, 134 declined and 25 remained unchanged. Construction firm Technodomi led all advancers, rising 59.09 percent. It was followed by underwear manufacturer Sex Form (29.79 percent) and fireproof materials manufacturer Mathios (23.35 percent). Four other stocks rose more than 20 percent. Alisida’s preferred stock led the losers, with an 11.89 percent decline. It was followed by Varveris-Moda Bagno (11.56 percent) and the preferred stocks of Petzetakis (11.46 percent), and Emborikos Desmos (11.11 percent). Alpha Bank was the most heavily traded stock, with an average daily turnover of 11.80 million euros. It was followed by EFG Eurobank (10.93 million) and OTE Telecom (10.13 million).
