Shares up as investors go bargain-hunting
Shares gained on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) yesterday in what turned out to be a correction of Thursday’s decline, as investors queued to buy cheap stocks. The ASE general index closed at its intra-day high of 2,352.66 points, a gain of 24.42 points or 1.05 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 0.98 percent to close at 1,278.41 points, while the mid- and small-cap indices gained 0.51 percent and 0.44 percent respectively. OTE Telecom, the main culprit in Thursday’s fall, once again attracted investor interest, and yesterday they were eager to buy. Over 3 million of OTE’s shares changed hands, and turnover was 33.04 million euros, more than a quarter of total business. The stock rose 1.48 percent to close at 10.98 euros. CosmOTE, OTE’s mobile telecommunications subsidiary, did even better, gaining 2.41 percent to close at 13.60 euros. Among banks, Alpha and EFG Eurobank gained 1.36 percent and 0.95 percent, respectively. Other blue chips that gained were Hellenic Petroleum (up 2.10 percent to 6.80 euros), Titan (1.63 percent to a year-high of 21.24 euros), Coca-Cola HBC (1.61 percent to 17.62 euros) and OPAP (1.28 percent to 15.78 euros). Of the 346 traded stocks, 166 gained, 104 declined and 76 remained unchanged. Turnover was 120.52 million euros.
