Telecoms help ASE index limit losses to 0.08 pct
A strong comeback by heavyweight OTE Telecom gave Greek equities a late- session leg-up yesterday, bringing the general index within an inch of positive territory. The Athens benchmark general index ended down 0.08 percent at 2,206.24 points, a third consecutive year low. Earlier, the index was scoring losses of up to 3.47 percent. Since last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks, the bourse has lost 13.6 percent. A positive opening for the Dow Jones and the heavy losses we have had over the past few days led to selective positioning in small- and mid-cap stocks, while OTE’s gains helped trim losses, said analyst Dimitris Triantafyllou at Euroxx Securities. OTE, earlier reiterating a buy by Credit Suisse First Boston, notched up gains of 3.83 percent, ending at 16.28 euros, and boosting the telecom subindex 2.62 percent. Banks were off 0.94 percent. The FTSE/ASE index of blue chips was off 0.47 percent to 1,241.67. The FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps gained 1.88 percent to 225.41 points and small-caps rose 2.65 percent. Turnover was 142.27 million euros from 232.71 million on Monday, on 32 million shares traded. (Reuters) When Simitis made his announcement in February of the changes to the former airport at Hellenikon, he said in the presence of Wassenhoven that the plans had to be specific. Six months later, there is no institutional framework for developing the area and the placement of the Olympic projects is not at all specific.
