ASE slips from highs as bank shares dive
Stocks gained yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange, with the late sale of mainly bank stocks eating away at earlier gains. The ASE compound share index closed at 4,128.60 points, a gain of 11.55 points or 0.28 percent. During the session, it had reached a high of 4,152.92 points, or 0.87 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chips declined 0.01 percent to close at 2,269.20 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 1.24 percent and 1.18 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International gained 0.19 percent, closing at 5,923.87 points. Among blue chips, the biggest gainers were technology holding company Intracom (2.63 percent to 5.46 euros), telecoms company OTE (2.53 percent to 20.30 euros), mobile telecommunications firm Cosmote (2.33 percent to 19.30 euros), refiner Hellenic Petroleum (1.62 percent to 10.06 euros), metals group Viohalco (1.11 percent to 9.08 euros) and Public Power Corporation (1.01 percent to 20 euros). The biggest losers were betting company OPAP (1.27 percent to 27.98 euros), EFG Eurobank (1.14 percent to 26.06 euros), cement maker Titan (0.92 percent to 41.12 euros) and National Bank (0.84 percent to 35.56 euros). Turnover reached 293.31 million euros, including 41.30 million in prearranged trades.
