Late interest in certain blue chips saves the day
Stocks gained slightly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), as investor interest in a few blue chips toward the end of the session erased earlier losses. The ASE general index closed at 3,508.07 points, a gain of 8.30 points or 0.24 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 0.44 percent to close at 1,954.11 points. Mid-caps gained 0.24 percent and small-caps dropped 0.80 percent. The biggest gains among blue chips were recorded by telecoms equipment manufacturer Intracom (up 2.44 percent to 5.04 euros), construction group Hellenic Technodomiki (1.44 percent to 4.22 euros), bottler Coca-Cola HBC (1.39 percent to 23.38 euros), metals group Viohalco (1.35 percent to 6.02 euros), National Bank (1.29 percent to 34.68 euros), cement producer Titan (0.96 percent to a year-high of 31.40 euros), refiner Motor Oil (0.95 percent to 19.18 euros) and telecoms firm OTE (0.56 percent to 17.96 euros). Electricity company PPC continued to gain following Friday’s ouster of its controversial chairman Yiannis Paleokrassas. This time, it rose 0.33 percent, to 18.10 euros. Of 327 traded stocks, 102 gained, 168 declined and 57 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 147.47 million euros, including 25.12 million in prearranged trades.
