ASE takes a beating
The Athens Stock Exchange composite share price index closed last Friday at 4,029.02 points, a decline of 216.12 points or 5.09 percent on the previous week’s close. The decline was across the board, but pressure weighed more strongly on small-capitalization stocks. Turnover rose to 2.85 billion euros, an average of 570.49 million euros per session, from 413.59 million the previous week. The figure includes several big share transfers, most importantly the sale of a 51.7 percent share in casino and hotel operator Hyatt Regency to an investment fund. All major indices lost ground: the FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips declined 5.21 percent to close at 2,224.71 points; the FTSE/Athex Mid 40 declined 5.74 percent to close at 4,072.16 points and the FTSE/Athex Small-Cap 80 declined 9.39 percent. The composite FTSE/Athex 140 index declined 5.44 percent to close at 4,827.44 points, while the FTSE/Athex International index declined 4.97 percent to close at 5,648.91 points. All 17 sectoral indices ended with losses. The biggest losers were industrial goods and services (10.96 percent), media (10.04 percent) and technology (9.62 percent). Among individual titles, the top gainers were Euclides (16.67 percent), Maxim Pertsinidis (10.71 percent) and Tria Alfa (9.22 percent). Top losers were the preferred shares of Emborikos Desmos (22.22 percent) and the common stock of Fitco (21.90 percent) and Texapret (21.31 percent). Hyatt Regency topped the list of the most heavily traded shares, thanks to a big one-time transfer, with an average turnover of 99.38 million euros per session.
