Small-caps show mettle amid terrorism jitters
News of the foiled terrorist plot to blow up airliners sent jitters through stock markets everywhere yesterday. The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index was 46.73 points, or 1.21 percent, down at 3,806.67, with small-caps putting up the strongest resistance. The FTSE blue chip index was down 1.03 percent, mid-caps lost 1.36 percent and small-caps edged down 0.10 percent. Only four of the 17 sectoral indices stayed afloat, with food and beverages, petroleum and insurance declining most. Health was up 1.77 percent. Only three blue chips escaped the slump, OPAP added 1.06 percent, Viohalco continued its advance with one percentage point and Germanos edged 0.11 percent higher. Coca-Cola HBC tumbled more than 3 percent despite announcing good first-half results, Duty Free Shops and Motor Oil and ATEbank declined more than 2 percent. Alpha Bank, National Bank, Eurobank, Public Power Corporation, Hellenic Petroleum, Intracom, Hellenic Technodomiki, Cosmote, OTE and Titan ended leaner. Drug maker Lavipharm registered its third consecutive limit up, as investors anticipate the licensing of one of its products by the US Food and Drug Administration. Turnover remained low, at 172.77 million euros.
