Bomb blasts lead local investors to sell heavily
Shares fell more than 1 percent yesterday under the cloud of morning bomb blasts in Athens and derivatives-related selling pressure, traders said. «Because stock index futures were trading at a substantial discount to cash, obviously there was unwinding, and that sent the market lower,» a trader said. May stock index futures on the blue chip index settled 0.43 percent lower at 1,327.17 points. The underlying index lost 0.87 percent, ending at 1,337.58 points. The general share index shed 1.03 percent to 2,513.87 points. «We saw some profit-taking after the strong sessions of past days,» said analyst Antonis Kouleimanis at Devletoglou Securities. National Bank fell 2.28 percent to 24.84 euros, while OTE Telecom slid 1.78 percent to 12.14 euros. Another trader added that heavy news flow on the blasts at an Athens police station led domestic investors to believe international investors would react negatively, so they sold aggressively, thinking that funds would be unloading later. Mid-caps and small-caps fell 1.79 and 2.25 percent respectively. Turnover rose to 141.16 million euros, with 24.2 million shares changing hands. Losers outnumbered winners 271 to 43, with 47 shares ending flat. (Reuters)
