National Bank, telecom stocks push market up
Stocks gained yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with investors going after shares of National Bank and telecoms firms. The ASE compound share index closed at 4,147.35 points, a gain of 16.75 points or 0.41 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chips gained 0.62 percent to close at 2,282.10 points, while mid-caps and small-caps gained 0.21 percent and 0.37 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International gained 0.55 percent, closing at 5,953.16 points. Among blue chips, the biggest gainers were mobile telecommunications company Cosmote (up 2.59 percent to 18.98 euros), refiner Motor Oil (1.79 percent to 20.48 euros), National Bank (1.29 percent to 36.10 euros) and betting company OPAP (0.98 percent to 28.78 euros). Hardest hit were ATEbank (down 4.78 percent to 3.98 euros), technology holding company Intracom (1.49 percent to 5.30 euros), Public Power Corporation (1 percent to 19.80 euros) and bottler Coca-Cola HBC (0.83 percent to 26.38 euros). Of 312 traded stocks, 151 gained, 106 declined and 55 ended unchanged. Turnover reached 251.91 million euros, including 24.62 million in prearranged trades. The most heavily traded stocks, by number of shares, were ATEbank (5,935,676 shares), Lannet (1,089,128), Egnatia Bank (924,433) and National Bank (803,366).
