Mid-caps, Agricultural Bank drag market down
Stocks dropped slightly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange, as investors dumped medium-capitalization listings. Interest in some blue chips, however, kept overall losses small. The ASE general index closed at 3,063.45 points, a decline of 10.19 points or 0.33 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined 0.17 percent to close at 1,723.70 points, while mid- and small-caps dropped 2.06 percent and 1.01 percent, respectively. Some blue chips were badly hit: these included Intracom (down 3.48 percent to 3.88 euros), Hellenic Technodomiki (2.88 percent to 4.06 euros), OPAP (1.29 percent to 23 euros) and PPC (1.17 percent to 20.32 euros). By contrast, significant gains were registered by metals group Viohalco (up 2.59 percent to 5.54 euros), Emporiki Bank (2.03 percent to 25.14 euros) and cement company Titan (1.17 percent to 25.86 euros). OTE reached a new 52-week high of 16.36 euros. Agricultural Bank of Greece tumbled 13.89 percent, as 624,444,444 new shares, the result of a capital increase, were traded for the first time. Of the 326 traded stocks, 79 gained, 190 declined and 57 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 174.50 million euros, including 41.07 million in pre-arranged trades.