ASE, in buoyant mood, closes at 50-month high
Stocks posted strong gains for the second day running yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), leaping past 3,200 points for the first time in over four years. The ASE general index closed at 3,252.13 points, a gain of 80.58 points or 2.54 percent. This is the highest closing since May 28, 2001. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 3.01 percent to close at 1,833.24 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 1.98 percent and 0.99 percent respectively. New 52-week highs were achieved by OTE (up 3.94 percent to 16.88 euros), Emporiki Bank (3.83 percent to 26.56 euros), Folli-Follie (3.31 percent to 25 euros) and National Bank (3.10 percent to 30.58 euros). Other blue chips with significant gains included Intracom (up 4.81 percent to 3.92 euros), Hellenic Technodomiki (4.65 percent to 4.50 euros), PPC (4.53 percent to 20.30 euros), Alpha Bank (4.16 percent to 23.52 euros), Germanos (3.56 percent to 27.94 euros), EFG Eurobank (2.87 percent to 27.28 euros), Piraeus Bank (2.43 percent to 16.04 euros) and OPAP (2.12 percent to 26.04 euros). Of 331 traded stocks, 198 gained, 84 declined and 49 ended unchanged. Turnover jumped more than 40 percent to reach 273.06 million euros, including 5.44 million in prearranged trades.
