Banks lead ASE gains following UBS report
Stocks gained yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), setting yet another five-year high, despite the negative climate prevailing in other European markets. Yesterday’s rally was driven by banks and media companies. The former rose following a report by UBS setting higher share target prices for the «big six»: 50 euros per share for National, 43 for EFG Eurobank, 39 for Alpha, 37 for Emporiki, 27 for Piraeus and 7.40 for ATEBank. The ASE composite share price index closed at 4,118.28 points, a gain of 13.44 points or 0.33 percent. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips gained 0.61 percent to close at 2,245.63 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 0.10 percent and 1.86 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International index gained 0.61 percent to close at 5,679.10 points. Blue chips were once again led by surging metals group Viohalco, which gained 3 percent to close at 10.96 euros, followed by National Bank, ATEBank and EFG Eurobank. By contrast, refiners Motor Oil and Hellenic Petroleum and telecommunications company OTE suffered significant losses. Out of 326 traded shares, 190 gained, 105 declined and 31 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 364.89 million euros, including 24.5 million in prearranged trades.
