Stocks resume climb as small-caps outperform
Stocks resumed their upward course yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), in a session marked by strong buying interest in small-capitalization firms. The ASE composite share price index closed at 4,202.85 points, a gain of 11.14 points or 0.27 percent. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips gained 0.30 percent to close at 2,334.44 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 0.13 percent and 1.58 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International index gained 0.53 percent, closing at 5,915.03 points. Among blue chips, the biggest gainers were cement producer Titan (up 3.57 percent to 40 euros), electricity company PPC (2.85 percent to 18.76 euros), EFG Eurobank (2.08 percent to 33.40 euros), betting company OPAP (1.59 percent to 31.88 euros) and Alpha Bank (1.46 percent to 31.96 euros). The biggest losers were ATEbank (down 2.61 percent to 5.98 euros), electronics retailer Germanos (2.45 percent to 17.54 euros) and Emporiki Bank (2.04 percent to 29.78 euros). Out of 321 traded shares, 168 gained, 104 declined and 49 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 448.26 million euros, including 58.72 million in prearranged trades. The most important among the latter concerned the transfer of 2.05 million shares (a 4 percent stake) in toy retailer Jumbo at 13.10 euros per share.
