National Bank helps push index above 3,900
Buying interest in National Bank of Greece sustained the Athens Stock Exchange’s forward momentum yesterday, with the main index climbing above 3,900 points. The ASE general index closed at 3,918.19 points, a gain of 49.57 points or 1.28 percent. On a weekly basis, the index gained 1.63 percent, raising the year’s gains so far to 6.94 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chips gained 1.53 percent to close at 2,135.34 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 1.22 percent and 0.87 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International index closed at 5,518.63 points, a gain of 1.47 percent. Almost all blue chips posted gains, with the exception of bottler Coca-Cola HBC, which slipped 0.23 percent to close at 25.64 euros. The biggest gainers were Alpha Bank (3.40 percent to 20.92 euros), National Bank (3.09 percent to 33.40 euros), EFG Eurobank (2.80 percent to 24.26 euros), jewelry and accessories maker and retailer Folli-Follie (2.68 percent to 21.46 euros), cement maker Titan (1.24 percent to 39.28 euros), Emporiki Bank (1.13 percent to 23.34 euros) and telecommunications firm OTE (1.11 percent to 18.20 euros). Of the 300 traded shares, 153 gained, 82 declined and 65 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 347.09 million euros, including 101.94 million in prearranged trades.
