Blue chips fail to hold on to early session gains
Stocks declined marginally yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) after failing to hold on to early gains, especially blue chips. The ASE general index closed at 3,265.85 points, a drop of 1.20 points or 0.04 percent. During the session, it had reached a high of 3,387.68 points. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips ended unchanged, at 1,808.53 points, while mid-caps gained 0.78 percent and small-caps declined 0.01 percent. Several blue chips recorded gains, including casino and hotel operator Hyatt (up 3.18 percent to 10.38 euros), ATEBank (2.88 percent to 5 euros), cement producer Titan (1.23 percent to 28 euros), National Bank (0.52 percent to 31.16 euros) and refiner Hellenic Petroleum (0.52 percent to 11.60 euros). By contrast, significant losses were sustained by refiner Motor Oil (down 2.82 percent to 17.26 euros), Duty Free Shops (2.55 percent to 14.50 euros), telecommunications equipment-manufacturer Intracom (2.53 percent to 5.40 euros), bottler Coca-Cola HBC (1.31 percent to 22.52 euros) and betting company OPAP (1.18 percent to 23.52 euros). Of 330 traded stocks, 126 gained, 135 declined and 69 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 159.75 million euros, including 16.5 million in prearranged trades.
