Late buying interest helps stabilize index
Stocks stabilized on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) yesterday following a rather volatile session, after foreign institutionals began again to buy blue chips. Buyers also went after small-capitalization stocks. The ASE general index closed at 3,074.71 points yesterday, a small gain of 3.22 points or 0.10 percent. It ranged between 3,051.35 and 3,090.55 during the session. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips also moved little, gaining 0.02 percent to close at 1,718.05 points. Mid- and small-caps rose 0.34 percent and 1.50 percent respectively. Chief gainers among blue chips were cement company Titan (up 1.26 percent to 27.38 euros) and OTE (1.09 percent to 14.84 euros). National Bank and EFG Eurobank posted modest gains (0.36 percent and 0.23 percent respectively), while CosmOTE declined 1.44 percent to 13.72 euros and Alpha Bank dropped 1.27 percent to 27.88 euros. Out of 349 traded stocks, 213 gained, 83 declined and 53 ended unchanged. Turnover dropped significantly, to 167.76 million euros, including 7.39 million in pre-arranged trades. The most heavily traded stocks, in terms of number of shares changing hands, were Bank of Cyprus, National Bank, software company Ipirotiki and Lan-net.