Mid-caps lead retreat
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed last Friday at 2,322.39 points, a drop of 35.66 points, or 1.51 percent, from the previous week’s close. Turnover dropped once again (not an unusual event in midsummer) to 364.39 million euros, an average of 72.88 million euros per session, from 83.11 million the previous week. All Financial Times indices suffered losses this time. Hardest hit were mid-caps: The FTSE/ASE Mid-40 retreated 3.26 percent, while the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 and the FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips retreated 1.91 percent and 1.19 percent, respectively. The composite FTSE/ASE-140 index fell 1.50 percent to close at 2,688.76 points. Fifteen out of the 18 sectoral indices declined. The exceptions were telecommunications (1.01 percent), non-metallic minerals and cement (0.39 percent) and real estate (0.32 percent). The biggest losses were sustained by holding companies (5.36 percent), basic metals (5.14 percent) and construction (5.09 percent). Of the 363 traded stocks, 69 gained, 262 declined and 32 remained unchanged. Gainers were led by Emporikos Desmos (15 percent), Altec (11.11 percent) and ANEK’s preferred (96) stock (9.09 percent). The top losers were Sex Form (42.94 percent), Elton (30.89 percent) and Fieratex (30.15 percent). The week’s most heavily traded stock once again was the Public Power Corporation, with an average turnover per session of 7.38 million euros. It was followed by National Bank (7.30 million), Alpha Bank (5.51 million) and state betting and lottery company OPAP (7.13 million).
