Big gains, new high
The Athens Stock Exchange general index closed last Friday at 3,381.96 points, a gain of 131.03 points or 4.03 percent on the previous week’s close. The market gained throughout the week, setting successive year-highs and reaching a level last seen in the spring of 2001. Turnover rose to 1.34 billion euros, an average of 268.11 million euros per session, from 205.20 million the previous week. All Financial Times indices gained, with the FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips leading the way by gaining 4.38 percent, closing at 1,876.33 points. The FTSE/ASE Mid-40 and FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 gained 3.59 percent and 1.37 percent, respectively. The composite FTSE/ASE-140 index gained 4.14 percent to close at 3,961.30 points. Fifteen of the 18 sectoral indices ended with gains last week. The exceptions were construction (2.31 percent), IT equipment and solutions (2.13 percent) and food and beverages (0.10 percent). Top gainers were insurance (11.39 percent), refineries (8.96 percent) and textiles (8.65 percent). Among the 345 individual titles traded, 194 gained, 120 declined and 31 ended unchanged. The top gainers were Microland Computers (62.04 percent), Fieratex (54.39 percent) and ANEK’s preferred (1990) stock (31.30 percent). Top losers were Plias (14.29 percent), Hellatex (13.46 percent) and ETMA (12.78 percent). National Bank topped the list of the most heavily traded shares, with an average turnover of 39.02 million euros per session. It was trailed by OPAP (31.49 million), OTE (23.50 million) and Alpha Bank (20.58 million).
