Mid-caps stay course as blue chips slide
Greek stocks had a mixed day yesterday, as sales mainly of banks towards the end of the session eroded early gains. The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed just 0.04 percent down, at 3,221.84 points, after rising 0.92 percent higher. Among the big banks, only National stayed up, closing 0.34 percent higher at 29.42 euros. Alpha shed 0.65 percent, Eurobank lost 0.56 percent and Emporiki ended 1.18 percent lower. There was selective interest for other blue chips and mid-caps. ATE Bank, with a weight of 9 percent in the mid-cap index, outperformed in its sector with gains of 2.59 percent. Gaming firm OPAP and Titan Cement added 1.41 and 1.65 percent respectively, refiner Motor Oil gained 1.51 percent and the Public Power Corporation was 0.61 percent higher. The blue chip FTSE/ASE 20 index slided in line with the general index, ending 0.04 percent lower, the mid-cap FTSE/ASE 40 added 0.55 percent and the small caps FTSE/ASE 80 edged down 0.09 percent. Industrial minerals led sectoral indices with gains of 1.77 percent. Turnover totaled 149.6 million euros, of which 60.5 million was accounted for by the four most heavily traded stocks: OTE, Cosmote, Alpha Bank and OPAP.
