Deals maintain buoyant mood for fifth session
Greek stocks rose to a six-year high in intra-session trading yesterday, still buoyed by the flurry of announced and expected business deals and an enduring positive sentiment in global markets. The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index closed 0.72 percent higher at 4,316.98 points, pushing the year’s gains so far to 17.84 percent. Mid- and small caps outperformed blue chips. The blue chip FTSE/Athex 20 index added 0.48 percent, while the FTSE/Athex Mid-40 and FTSE/Athex Small-Cap 80 climbed 2.20 percent and 2.84 percent respectively. All but two sectoral indices, Food & Drink and Telecommunications, headed north. Raw materials and financial services outperformed with respective gains of 4 percent and 3.35 percent. Folli Follie led winners among blue chips by climbing 4.82 percent after announcing a doubling of its stake in Duty Free Shops to 49 percent, Intracom surged 2.45 percent, Viohalco advanced 2.42 percent, while banks National and Alpha added 1.28 and 1.82 percent. S&B Minerals and Sidenor led mid-cap winners by surging 6.52 percent and 5.63 percent. Turnover totaled 328.11 million euros, of which 85.2 million was accounted for by the four most marketable securities, banks National and Alpha, OPAP and OTE.
