Sharp rise in turnover
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) continued its recent hot streak last week, with the general index ending at 2,466.89 points on Friday, up 1.85 percent from a week earlier. Turnover, including block trades, reached 687.17 million euros, an average per session of 137.43 million against 84.91 million euros the week before. All Financial Times indices registered gains, led by the Small-Cap 80, which ended 3.15 percent higher. The Mid-40 was up 2.64 percent and the blue chip FTSE/ASE-20, 1.89 percent. Only three sectoral indices headed south, those of non-metallic minerals and cement (1.33 percent), foodstuffs (2.37 percent) and real estate, which dropped by 7.04 percent. The winners were led by printing & publishing (4.81 percent) and refineries (4.73 percent). The spark that revived interest in mid-caps on Wednesday and Thursday was EFG Eurobank’s new product, which includes a basket of 50 stocks of private firms in its MidCap Private Sector 50. The next few sessions are expected to show whether the revival of interest in small- and mid-caps, which had receded to year lows, is sustainable. The significant rise in turnover is considered an encouraging sign because the sustainability of the rebound depends on it. Advancers outnumbered decliners 225 to 112, with 32 remaining unchanged on 368 traded. Winners were led by Allatini (up 31.03 percent) and losers by Xifias Fisheries (down 25.00 percent). The most marketable securities were National Bank, Babis Vovos and Alpha Bank.
