ATHEX: Stocks close slightly up, but few buy
The Athens Stock Exchange rose slightly Thursday, but volume fell from already anemic levels.
The general index, which closed 0.45% higher at 640.60 points, was buoyed by select blue chips, such as OTE – which published its second-quarter results Thursday – whose stock gained 1.98%, and Jumbo (1.37%)
It was one of those rare days where the Greek market outperformed most of its European peers, which declined, although investors continued to abstain: turnover, at €31.07 million, was the lowest in 11 sessions.
The blue chip index rose 0.48% to close at 1,536.93 and mid-caps settled at 858.1, a gain of 0.31%.
The banks index was almost unchanged at 319.97 (+0.02%), although Alpha was the only one of the “big four” retail banks to decline (-1.14%). National, which also announced its second-quarter results Thursday, gained 1.18%, despite profit dropping more than 85%, to €58 million, from the first quarter’s €407 million, on the back of lower trading and fee and commission income. Nonperforming exposures – which involve loans and other assets likely to turn bad – remained relatively steady (29.9% from 30.8%). Piraeus gained 0.24% and Eurobank rose 0.05%.
