Marginal gains for ASE after a lackluster session
Equities ended a lackluster session yesterday with marginal gains, helped by some selective buying in mid-caps and telecom stocks. The Athens benchmark general index firmed 0.04 percent to end at 2,625.40 points, after hitting an intrasession high of 2,647.73 points. «It was an indifferent session with some fluctuations in the course of the session. The market is showing that it’s trendless and looking for some direction,» said analyst Elias Lazaris at Artion Securities. «I think it’s still too early to be looking at full-year 2001 results and there’s no other news on the horizon, so the market may move lower. But we’ve seen some foreign investors building positions and that indicates that they don’t see a lot of downside,» said Lazaris. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips slipped 0.09 percent to 1,432.87 points, with telecoms gaining 0.20 percent. The FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps rose 0.26 percent and small-caps were up 0.02 percent. Turnover was 147.99 million euros on volume of 86 million shares. Losers beat winners 155 to 142 with 65 unchanged on 362 traded. (Reuters) Low employment level
