Blue chips post gains
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed at 2,623.13 points on Friday, a gain of 12.14 points or 0.46 percent. Weekly turnover declined to 920.99 million euros, an average of 184.20 million per session, from 284.82 million the previous week. In fact, business actually increased if we discount the massive sale of state-owned National Bank shares, worth 592 million euros, the previous week. Among Financial Times indices, the FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 0.35 percent to close at 1,444.26 points. The FTSE/ASE Mid-40 and the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 shed 0.63 percent and 1.31 percent, respectively, while the composite FTSE/ASE-140 index gained 0.12 percent. Twelve of the 18 sectoral indices declined. The biggest losers were Information Technology (2.39 percent), non-metallic minerals and cement (2.21 percent) and retail commerce (1.68 percent). The biggest gainers were insurance (3.94 percent), investment (1.58 percent) and telecommunications (1.45 percent). Of the 367 individual titles traded, 126 gained, 210 declined and 31 ended unchanged. The biggest gainers were Interfish (18.44 percent), the preferred stock of Alisida (17.61 percent), Interinvest (15.38 percent) and Agricultural Bank (15.09 percent). The biggest decliners were holding company Vernicos (20.83 percent), textiles firm Cor-fil (15.52 percent) and Perseus (15.45 percent). The most heavily traded stocks were those of National Bank, OTE and OPAP. The most marketable securities were National Bank, gaming firm OPAP and Alpha Bank.
