Blue chips drag index down in volatile session
Stocks declined marginally yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange in a rather volatile session. The ASE compound share index closed at 4,257.54 points, a drop of 3.18 points or 0.06 percent. During the session, it fluctuated between 4,250.92 and 4,278.23 points. The FTSE/Athex 20 index of blue chips declined 0.06 percent to close at 2,355.92 points, while mid-caps and small-caps gained 0.21 percent and 0.46 percent, respectively. The FTSE/Athex International declined 0.01 percent, closing at 6,134.89 points. Nine of 17 sectoral indices declined. The biggest gainers were insurance (1.23 percent), chemicals (1.17 percent) and industrial goods and services (0.69 percent). The biggest losers were technology (down 1.14 percent), raw materials (lower 1.11 percent) and travel and leisure (down 0.83 percent). Among blue chips, the top gainers were Piraeus Bank (1.47 percent to 23.50 euros), Duty Free Shops (1.25 percent to 12.96 euros) and Bank of Cyprus (1.01 percent to 4.08 euros). The top losers were ATEbank (2.46 percent to 3.96 euros), technology holding company Intracom (2.10 percent to 5.60 euros) and betting company OPAP (1.45 percent to 28.56 euros). Turnover reached 320.74 million euros, including 36.50 million in prearranged trades.
