Small-caps save the day as some blue chips fall
A small-cap party yesterday ultimately pulled up the Greek stock market, where profit taking in several blue chips kept it southbound for most of the session. The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed with gains of 0.11 percent at 3,899.33 points. Winners outnumbered decliners at about 2.5 to 1. Most sectoral indices recorded gains, led by technology which surged 7.33 percent. Chemicals and insurance also made hefty gains, while travel and leisure, industrial products and telecommunications performed worst. Among blue chips, Intracom surged 6.47 percent, Hellenic Petroleum 3.68 percent and ATE Bank 3.40 percent, while banks Emporiki and Piraeus added 1.57 percent and 1.56 percent respectively. In contrast, gaming firm OPAP and Alpha Bank lost 2.20 percent and 1.30 percent respectively. Turnover rose to 374.4 million euros, of which 36.5 million represented pre-arranged block trades, notably of Coca Cola HBC, Emporiki and Eurobank. The four most heavily traded stocks – OPAP, National Bank, Eurobank and OTE telecom – totaled about 146 million. On a weekly basis, the index gained 3.22 percent and is up 6.15 percent since the beginning of the year.
