Drop due to blue chips
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) composite share price index closed last Friday at 3,958.70 points, a decline of 35.36 points or 0.89 percent on the previous week’s close. Selling in blue chips dragged the market down, while medium- and small-capitalization stocks outperformed. Turnover increased to 2.23 billion euros, an average of 446.93 million euros per session, from 405.70 million the previous week. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips dropped 1.37 percent to close at 2,166.63 points, the FTSE/Athex Mid 40 gained 1.72 percent to close at 3,875.30 points and the FTSE/Athex Small-Cap 80 gained 1.50 percent. The composite FTSE/Athex 140 index declined 0.82 percent to close at 4,683.30 points, while the FTSE/Athex International index fell 0.59 percent to close at 5,440.60 points. Despite the overall drop, 10 of the 17 sectoral indices ended with gains. Top gainers were healthcare (up 7.27 percent), industrial goods and services (5.59 percent) and retail (5.12 percent). Top losers were utilities (down 6.31 percent), banks (2.35 percent) and insurance (1.52 percent). Among individual companies, the top gainers were Hygeia (41.15 percent), Marac Electronics (32.09 percent) and Fitco (27.91 percent). Top losers were Varvaressos (15 percent), Emborikos Desmos (14.29 percent) and Hellatex (14.29 percent). OPAP topped the list of the most heavily traded shares, with an average turnover of 71.39 million euros per session. It was trailed by National Bank (47.10 million), Public Power Corporation (24.52 million), Alpha Bank (22.55 million) and Bank of Cyprus (20.26 million).
