OTE and refiners help index post modest gain
Stocks gained slightly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), helped by news of the agreement for a so-called «grand coalition» government in Germany, which also lifted other European markets. The session was otherwise quiet, with a much-reduced turnover. The ASE general index closed at 3,360.42 points, a gain of 6.58 points or 0.20 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips rose 0.25 percent to close at 1,865.11 points. Mid-caps gained 0.32 percent to 2,937.34 points but small-caps declined 0.19 percent. OTE dominated the session, rising 2.18 percent to close at 16.88 euros. Refiners also did well, resuming their strong upward trend after a short but sharp correction: Motor Oil gained 2.81 percent to close at 18.28 euros, while Hellenic Petroleum rose 2.42 percent, closing at 12.68 euros. Several blue chips lost ground: These were electricity company PPC (down 1.68 percent to 18.72 euros), mobile telecoms operator CosmOTE (1.54 percent to 16.58 euros), casino and hotel operator Hyatt (1.52 percent to 10.40 euros) and ATEBank (1.17 percent to 5.06 euros). Of 332 traded stocks, 111 gained, 173 declined and 48 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 127.25 million euros, including 4.57 million in prearranged trades.
