Volatile session posts slight gain, new high
Stocks gained slightly yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) in a volatile session marked by early gains and the selling of blue chips toward the end. Medium- and small-capitalization firms outperformed and 53 stocks closed at 52-week highs. The ASE composite share price index closed at 4,104.84 points, a gain of 7.43 points or 0.18 percent and a 65-month high. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips declined 0.08 percent to close at 2,231.91 points, while mid-caps and small-caps gained 1.40 percent and 1.50 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International index gained 0.10 percent to close at 5,644.60 points. Among blue chips, significant gains were posted by metals group Viohalco (up 5.98 percent to 10.64 euros), Duty Free Shops (4.04 percent to 16.60 euros) and EFG Eurobank (1.99 percent to 32.84 euros). By contrast, losses were sustained by betting company OPAP (down 1.52 percent to 32.23 euros), electricity company PPC (1.36 percent to 17.42 euros), refiner Hellenic Petroleum (1.27 percent to 12.42 euros) and ATEBank (1.12 percent to 5.30 euros). Of 327 traded shares, 168 gained, 117 declined and 42 ended unchanged. Yesterday’s turnover reached 431.81 million euros, including 30.5 million in prearranged trades.
