Foreign institutionals keep selling blue chips
Stocks lost ground for the fourth session in a row yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange, with foreign institutionals once again the more aggressive sellers. The ASE composite share price index closed at 4,205.94 points, a drop of 37.94 points or 0.89 percent. On the week it fell 1.87 percent. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips dropped 1.25 percent to close at 2,238.98 points, while mid- and small-caps declined 0.75 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively. Some blue chips ended with gains, including technology holding company Intracom (up 2.69 percent to 6.86 euros), mobile telecommunications service provider Cosmote (2.30 percent to 19.60 euros) and ATEbank (0.39 percent to 5.14 euros). By contrast, significant losses were sustained by Alpha Bank (down 4.01 percent to 29.70 euros), cement maker Titan (3.66 percent to 42.70 euros), refiner Motor Oil (3.13 percent to 24.80 euros) and National Bank (2.03 percent to 37.62 euros). Out of 323 traded shares, 135 gained, 143 declined and 45 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 710.31 million euros, including 364.29 million in prearranged trades. Among the latter, the most important was the transfer of 65 million ATEbank shares – a 7.17 percent stake – at 5.05 euros each.
