Stocks slip 0.63 pct; Intracom falls sharply again
Equities slipped 0.63 percent yesterday as heavily battered telecom equipment- maker Intracom continued to bleed after news earlier this week that its CEO is facing a legal investigation. «We had an optimistic start, along with an upward reaction in European markets, but it was later proved that the buying interest was not sufficient to create a positive trend,» said Antonis Kouleimanis, trader at Devletoglou Securities. The Athens benchmark general index ended at 2,394.16 points, after reaching an intrasession high of 2,437.75 points. Intracom ended off 7.04 percent at 9.24 euros, losing more than 21 percent in the three last sessions. «The stock is a screaming buy but all of these developments are weighing on the stock,» said Costas Theodoropoulos, fund manager at Allianz. Intracom Construction fell 5.12 percent to 4.08 euros and Intralot eased 0.22 percent to 17.74 euros. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips slipped 0.57 percent to 1,303.83 points. The FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps eased 0.56 percent and small-caps on the FTSE/ASE-80 slipped 0.35 percent. Total turnover was 97.10 million euros on volume of 17.8 million shares. (Reuters) «Despite recent measures, some of the fundamental distortions introduced by the tax system still remain. These include the relatively strong degree of progressivity of personal income tax rates, and a higher burden on dependent employees compared with the self-employed,» the report says, touching on a fundamental weakness of the taxation system: Salaried workers are burdened because they have nowhere to hide, while the self-employed evade taxes to a large extent. A measure introduced by the government, to tax «imputed income» according to one’s profession and location of business, did result in added revenue but has now lapsed.
