ECONOMY

Buying in blue chips sparks slight ASE recovery

Buying in badly beaten Greek blue chips led the Athens bourse higher yesterday, as investors regained some confidence with the initial impact of the US terror attack warning. But market participants said uncertainty continued to grip investors. Gains of 1.5 percent in the general index were trimmed late in the session following reports from an Iraqi news agency of a USA-UK air raid on Iraq. The British government denied the report. The benchmark index ended up 0.77 percent at 2,376.20 points, off its late-session high of 2,394.72 points. We saw the market absorbing the pressure today and climbing higher. But the news about Iraq. .. showed that people are still nervous, said broker Marinos Yourgas at Market Securities. Telecom stocks gained 1.79 percent, while banks ended 0.19 percent higher. The Athens bourse’s FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 0.64 percent to 1,333.66 points. The FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps lost 0.15 percent, while small-caps inched forward 0.04 percent. Turnover was back to pre-US attack levels at 140.86 million euros after surging to 259 million on Wednesday, on 25.6 million shares traded. (Reuters)

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