Profit-taking hits blue chips, mid-caps resist
Stocks declined yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange, with investors pocketing gains in blue chips following Monday’s three-year closing high. Only medium-capitalization stocks resisted well. The ASE general index closed at 2,708.33 points, a drop of 22.94 points or 0.84 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined exactly 1 percent to close at 1,498.36 points. Mid-caps gained marginally (0.05 percent) but small-caps declined 0.64 percent. Some blue chips bucked the downward trend. These were electronics retailer Germanos (up 1.13 percent to 21.42 euros), jewelry firm Folli-Follie (0.83 percent to 21.88 euros) and Piraeus Bank (0.50 percent to 12.06 euros). By contrast, significant losses were recorded by Coca-Cola HBC (2.22 percent to 17.60 euros), Emporiki Bank (2.15 percent to 22.74 euros), Alpha Bank (1.27 percent to 24.82 euros), National Bank (1.25 percent to 23.64 euros), OTE (1.21 percent to 13.06 euros) and EFG Eurobank Ergasias (1.17 percent to 23.70 euros). Out of 351 traded stocks, 105 gained, 167 declined and 79 ended unchanged. Turnover declined to 168.30 million euros, including 48.5 million in prearranged trades.
