Banks lead index near 3,300 pts; refiners lose
Stocks gained significantly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), capitalizing on the positive mood on other European markets. The ASE general index closed at 3,298.82 points, a gain of 47.89 points or 1.47 percent. Momentarily, it had topped 3,300 points. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 1.82 percent to close at 1,830.47 points, while mid-caps and small-caps gained 1.15 percent and 0.54 percent respectively. The session was dominated by banks, all of which posted significant gains, led by Emporiki (up 3.87 percent to 23.08 euros). There then followed ATEBank (up 3.70 percent to 5.04 euros), Alpha Bank (3.02 percent to 23.20 euros), EFG Eurobank (3 percent to 25.38 euros), Piraeus (2.19 percent to 16.82 euros) and National (1.50 percent to 31.04 euros). Other blue chips with big gains included OTE (up 3.09 percent to 16.70 euros), OPAP (1.17 percent to 25.88 euros) and CosmOTE (1.14 percent to 15.98 euros). By contrast, losses were sustained by Hellenic Technodomiki (down 2.63 percent to 4.44 euros), Motor Oil (1.60 percent to 18.46 euros), Titan (1.09 percent to 27.30 euros) and Hellenic Petroleum (0.68 percent to 11.62 euros). Of 335 traded stocks, 177 gained, 101 declined and 57 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 262.62 million euros, including 84.10 million in prearranged trades.
