Mid-caps lead market recovery; blue chips lag
Stocks rebounded yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), taking their cue from other European markets. The ASE composite share price index closed at 4,047.48 points, a gain of 21.46 points or 0.53 percent. Earlier in the session, it had reached 4,085.42 points. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips gained 0.10 percent to close at 2,226.03 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 2.23 percent and 1.55 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International index gained 0.47 percent, closing at 5,645.50 points. Among blue chips, only OPAP lost ground, sliding 1.76 percent to close at 31.22 euros. The biggest gainers were technology holding company Intracom (up 4.10 percent to 5.58 euros), refiner Motor Oil (3.97 percent to 22.50 euros), jewelry maker and retailer Folli-Follie (2.98 percent to 24.20 euros), refiner Hellenic Petroleum (2 percent to 11.24 euros) and metals group Viohalco (1.97 percent to 8.28 euros). Out of 319 traded shares, 203 gained, 63 declined and 53 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 322.36 million euros, including 66.10 million in prearranged trades. The most important among the latter was the transfer of 3,279,230 shares in refiner Hellenic Petroleum, representing about 1 percent of the company’s equity capital, at a price of 11.02 euros each.
