Late selling spree erases session’s early gains
Stocks dropped slightly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) as some investors started liquidating their holdings toward the end of the session, wiping out the bourse’s modest gains earlier in the day. The session was marked by thin trading. Twenty-five stocks ended at 52-week lows. The ASE general index closed at 2,896.40 points, a drop of 8.80 points or 0.30 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips fell 0.47 percent to close at 1,615.74 points, while mid- and small-caps declined 0.05 percent and 0.42 percent respectively. Some blue chips braved the trend, including OTE, which gained 1.29 percent to close at 14.18 euros, on the back of a report by Credit Suisse First Boston assigning a price target of 15 euros. OPAP gained 0.57 percent to close at 21.34 euros, as Citigroup’s Smith Barney raised its target price from 19.20 to 25.20 euros. By contrast, Alpha Bank dropped 3.14 percent to close at 26.50 euros, while Intracom and Coca-Cola HBC declined 2.11 percent and 1.91 percent respectively. Out of 337 traded stocks, 110 gained, 169 declined and 58 ended unchanged. Turnover declined slightly, reaching 144.29 million euros, including 27.1 million in prearranged trades.
