Market stays put after a highly volatile session
Stocks gained slightly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) despite a negative mood in other European markets over the rising oil prices. The ASE composite share price index closed at 3,946.91 points, a gain of 5.79 points or 0.15 percent. Earlier in the session it had reached 3,981.06 points, helped by new valuations for National, EFG Eurobank and Piraeus banks, but profit-taking helped drop the index to 3,903.92 points before a late-session recovery. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips gained 0.27 percent to close at 2,172.46 points. Mid-caps gained 0.06 percent but small-caps declined 1.62 percent. The new FTSE/Athex International index gained 0.29 percent to close at 5,403.16 points. Among blue chips, significant gains were made by telecommunications equipment manufacturer Intracom (up 5.76 percent to 6.98 euros), metals group Viohalco (1.99 percent to 8.20 euros), Alpha Bank (1.77 percent to 28.74 euros), electronics retailer Germanos (1.35 percent to 16.48 euros), National Bank of Greece (0.97 percent to 37.62 euros) and PPC (0.92 percent to 19.68 euros). Out of 330 traded shares, 92 gained, 206 declined and 32 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 400.38 million euros, including 19.5 million in prearranged trades.
