London attacks shock ASE; losses pared back
Stocks were hit hard yesterday on the Athens Stock exchange by the news of the terrorist attacks in London. However, the market rallied towards the end, limiting losses. The ASE general index closed at 3,062.37 points, a decline of 39.82 points or 1.38 percent. During the session, it had fallen as low as 3,019.19 points, a 2.68 percent decline. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined 1.34 percent to close at 1,727.16 points. Mid- and small-caps declined 1.06 percent and 1.33 percent, respectively. Only two blue chips ended with gains. These were jeweler Folli-Follie (0.42 percent to 23.80 euros), and bottler Coca-Cola HBC (0.09 percent to 23 euros). The hardest hit were National Bank (down 2.08 percent to 29.16 euros), construction group Hellenic Technodomiki (2 percent to 3.92 euros), Hellenic Petroleum (1.99 percent to 8.88 euros), Alpha Bank (1.96 percent to 22 euros), Piraeus Bank (1.78 percent to 15.44 euros), mobile telecommunications firm CosmOTE (1.47 percent to 14.74 euros), betting agency OPAP (1.26 percent to 23.56 euros) and telecommunications company OTE (1.11 percent to 16.04 euros). Of the 331 traded stocks, 60 gained, 224 declined and 47 ended unchanged. Turnover rose to 213.55 million euros, including 17.26 million in pre-arranged trades.
