News of Germanos deal maintains good spirits
The Greek bourse stayed northbound for a fourth straight session yesterday amid a positive climate in foreign markets and buoyed by the news of a brewing major buyout of phone retailer Germanos by mobile operator Cosmote – both blue chips. The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed 0.45 percent higher at 4,285.93 points. All capitalizations and most sectoral indices gained. The blue chip FTSE/ASE 20 index added 0.56 percent, the FTSE/ASE Mid 40 finished 0.61 percent higher and the FTSE/ASE Small Cap 80 increased 1.53 percent. Among blue chips, accessories retailer Folli-Follie outperformed with gains of 2.88 percent, OTE advanced 2.46 percent, banks Piraeus and ATE added 2.43 percent and 1.97 percent respectively, and OPAP gained 2.01 percent. In contrast, the Public Power Corporation lost 1.93 percent, Hellenic Petroleum 1.91 percent and Emporiki Bank was 1.31 percent down. Technical Olympic outperformed in the mid-caps, ending 5.18 percent higher. Athens Medical surged 4.98 percent. Health services and telecommunications led winners among sectoral indices. Turnover climbed to 573.68 million euros, of which 243.42 million represented block trades.
