Index off, holds 2,700 level thanks to OTE
Shares declined on the Athens Stock Exchange yesterday, but the general index held above 2,700 points, thanks mainly to the resistance of telecoms stocks and a few other blue chips. The ASE general index closed at 2,704.99 points, a drop of 15.87 points or 0.58 percent. On a weekly basis, the index gained 0.84 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined 0.30 percent to close at 1,496.92 points. The mid- and small-caps indices declined 1.72 percent and 0.81 percent respectively. OTE Telecom bucked the trend, gaining 0.30 percent to close at a year-high 13.26 euros. Mobile telecommunications subsidiary CosmOTE ended unchanged, at 14.46 euros. The other blue chip gainers were telecom equipment maker Intracom (up 0.53 percent to 3.80 euros), cement industry Titan (0.28 percent to 21.22 euros) and Alpha Bank (0.24 percent to 24.86 euros). Out of the 355 traded stocks, 70 gained, 218 declined and 67 remained unchanged. Turnover declined slightly, to 158.41 million euros, including 28.11 million in in prearranged trades. The most heavily traded stocks, by share volume, were OTE, insurer Dynamic Life and Ipirotiki software and publishing company.
