Investors saving their cash for OPAP offer
Stocks lost some ground yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with investors holding back in order to put their money into the placement of shares in state-controlled betting firm OPAP. The ASE general index closed at 3,116.35 points, a drop of 7.11 points or 0.23 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips declined 0.23 percent to close at 1,746.49 points. Small-caps declined 0.34 percent, although mid-caps bucked the trend by gaining 1 percent. Several blue chips posted significant gains: They included construction firms Olympic Technical (up 6.53 percent to 5.22 euros) and Hellenic Technodomiki (2.84 percent to 4.34 euros), Alpha Bank (2.29 percent to 22.38 euros), metals group Viohalco (1.84 percent to 5.54 euros), bottler Coca-Cola HBC (1.78 percent to a 52-week-high of 24.02 euros), telecommunications equipment maker Intracom (1.59 percent to 3.84 euros), and casino and hotel operator Hyatt (1.26 percent to 9.62 euros). By contrast, OPAP dropped 2.66 percent to close at 24.14 euros, EFG Eurobank and Emporiki Bank declined 1.44 percent and 1.29 percent respectively, and OTE shed 1.23 percent to close at 16.02 euros. Of 337 traded stocks, 107 gained, 163 declined and 67 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 181.36 million euros, including 24.45 million in prearranged trades.
