Athens bourse rises slightly after falling all week
Equities edged higher yesterday, moving away from oversold levels on the back of firm banks after falling all week. After the extended slide, an upward movement was natural, but this was still weak. Turnover remained low, said Nikos Galoussis, analyst at Kappa Securities. The Athens benchmark general index firmed 0.25 percent to 2,571.71 points, ending the week off 132.41 points or 4.89 percent. Blue chips on the FTSE/ASE index firmed 0.36 percent to 1,410.64 points. Mid-caps rose 0.25 percent and small-caps gained 0.31 percent. It was the first sign of a reaction after five straight drops. The Public Power Corporation (PPC) looks to have steadied and this is good for the market, said Spyros Koutras, analyst at Nexus Securities. PPC firmed 0.51 percent to 11.80 euros, after losing about 7.5 percent in its two first sessions. PPC’s stock performance hurt sentiment and this in turn has raised concerns about the success of the government’s future privatization plans, said Grigoris Karagiannopoulos, analyst at Bank of Cyprus Securities. Turnover was 210.61 million euros. (Reuters) This is nothing new. What has changed since September 11 is the visibility of the migration flows around the world. Governments therefore have to ensure that the asylum system is fair and fast so that people who are not refugees do not take advantage of the system.
