Bourse overreacts to European blues, dives 4.17 pct
Sliding European bourses tightened the pressure on Greek equities yesterday, with losses in heavyweight bank and telecom shares weighing heavily across the board. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index, mired in the red since the opening, ended with losses of 4.17 percent at 2,536.97 points, but better than its intraday low of 2,510.24 points. The Greek bourse is following the downtrend in international markets again today, said head analyst at Kappa Securities Nikos Galoussis. European markets were forced down to end-1998 levels by a broad sell-off as nervous investors eyed US economic data on Friday and the coming preannouncement season. The Athens bourse’s FTSE/ ASE-20 index of blue chips slipped 4.10 percent to 1,427.18 points, while the FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps shed 4.55 percent. Small-caps lost 5.09 percent. The telecoms subindex ended down 4.76 percent with heavyweight OTE Telecom losing 4.47 percent to 17.10 euros. Banks closed with losses of 4.17 percent. Turnover came to 130.56 million euros on 24.9 million shares traded. (Reuters) Visitors have a unique opportunity to see for themselves the latest that markets have to offer in areas as diverse as construction and industrial equipment, telecommunications, means of transportation, machinery, household equipment, and others. With exhibits covering an area of 43,000 square meters, visitors also have the rare opportunity to see exhibits from as many as 18 countries represented by 45 state organizations, including Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, South Africa and Turkey.
