Selling orders hit OTE, drag blue chips down
Shares closed lower on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) yesterday as OTE shares came under some pressure due to mass sell orders by foreign institutions. Still, the ASE fell less than the major European bourses. The ASE general index closed at 2,274.48 points, a drop of 6.65 points or 0.29 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips dropped 0.39 percent to close at 1,202 points. OTE dropped 4.03 percent to close at 9.52 euros, reaching a new low for this year. However, its mobile telecommunications subsidiary CosmOTE rose 1.90 percent to close at 13.08 euros, mostly because of an acquisition through a single institutional investor. There was only selective buying interest for medium- and small-capitalization stocks. Their respective indices rose 0.25 percent and 0.29 percent. Among bank stocks, National and Emporiki declined 0.35 percent and 0.58 percent respectively, while Alpha, EFG Eurobank and Piraeus gained 0.74 percent, 0.11 percent and 0.91 percent. Out of 350 stocks traded, 148 gained, 115 declined and 87 ended unchanged. The total turnover climbed to 100.49 million euros, out of which nearly a quarter (24.74 million) came from some prearranged transactions.
