National the focus of moderate profit-taking
Greek stocks ended their winning run of six consecutive sessions yesterday, with moderate profit-taking focused on National Bank. The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index ended 0.37 percent lower at 3,929.59 points after rising a breath away from 3,970 points. Analysts said sales of National Bank, which dropped 1.43 percent after also shedding 1.59 percent on Monday, was the reason for some skepticism of the market’s short-term prospects. All capitalizations and most sectoral indices ended in negative territory. The blue chip FTSE/ASE 20 index was 0.32 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE Mid-40 slipped 0.38 percent and the FTSE/ASE Small-Cap 80 shed 1.06 percent. Only four sectoral indices: raw materials, food and beverages, health and industrial products edged higher. The fall was steepest for technology (-1.74 percent) and chemicals (-1.32 percent). Among blue chips, Duty Free Shops advanced 1.56 percent, Emporiki Bank added 1.09 percent, Coca-Cola HBC gained 1.01 percent and Piraeus Bank was up 1.00 percent. In contrast, Intracom tumbled 3.01 percent; ATEbank dropped 1.40 percent and Hellenic Petroleum lost 1.32 percent. Turnover rose to 249.56 million euros, of which 70.22 million was accounted for by National Bank.
