High valuations help modest market gains
Stocks gained yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with investors reacting positively to third-quarter results and foreign investment banks’ valuations. The ASE general index closed at 3,504.86 points, a gain of 22.78 points or 0.65 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 0.51 percent to close at 1,961.84 points. Mid- and small-caps gained 0.15 percent and 0.45 percent respectively. Refiners Motor Oil and Hellenic Petroleum benefited from a Merrill Lynch report which set share target prices of 24 and 13.60 euros respectively. Motor Oil gained 4.03 percent to close at 18.08 euros and Hellenic Petroleum 1.20 percent, closing at 11.82 euros. Betting firm OPAP also benefited from a CSFB report setting a target price of 30 euros, gaining 1.16 percent to close at 26.26 euros. Other blue chips posting significant gains included Duty Free Shops (up 3.23 percent to 14.70 euros), Coca-Cola HBC (3.04 percent to 23.70 euros), Hellenic Technodomiki (1.87 percent to 4.36 euros) and CosmOTE (1.58 percent to 17.96 euros). Of 335 traded stocks, 147 gained, 129 declined and 59 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 246.84 million euros, including 62.5 million in prearranged trades.
