ASE stable, while OPAP outperforms before sale
Stocks barely moved yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange, with some investors selling shares in order to gain liquidity and buy into the latest sale of OPAP stock later this week and others already buying into the betting company. The ASE general index closed at 3,115.70 points, a gain of 0.29 points or 0.01 percent. During the session, it had ranged between 3,100.30 and 3,118.96 points. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined 0.21 percent to close at 1,751.40 points. Mid-caps gained 0.70 percent and small-caps declined 0.15 percent. OPAP, still with majority state control ahead of the new stock sale, gained 1.91 percent to close at 24.54 euros. Also posting significant gains were Hellenic Petroleum (2.68 percent to 9.20 euros, a 52-week high) and Coca-Cola HBC (1.13 percent to 23.30 euros). In contrast, significant losses were sustained by Duty Free Shops (1.81 percent to 14.14 euros), telecommunications equipment-maker Intracom (1.06 percent to 3.74 euros) and National Bank of Greece (1.02 percent to 29.08 euros). Of 335 stocks traded, 99 gained, 175 declined and 61 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 184.99 million euros, including 23 million in prearranged trades.
