Good Q3 results help ASE reach year-high
Stocks gained yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), following international markets but also reacting to a series of upgrades by foreign investment firms on the back of positive third-quarter results. The ASE compound share index closed at a new year-high of 4,326.39 points, a gain of 47.25 points or 1.10 percent. The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chips gained 1.08 percent to close at a year-high 2,394.03 points, while mid-caps and small-caps gained 0.56 percent and 0.68 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International gained 0.98 percent, closing at 6,222.31 points. Thirteen out of 17 sectoral indices gained. The biggest gainers were foods and beverages (up 4.04 percent), construction and materials (1.43 percent) and utilities (1.25 percent). Chemicals declined 0.48 percent, insurance 0.18 percent, while personal and household goods and oil and gas declined marginally. Among blue chips, only Hellenic Petroleum declined (0.19 percent to 10.56 euros). New year-highs were set by bottler Coca-Cola HBC (up 5.41 percent to 28.04 euros), mobile telecommunications firm Cosmote (1.35 percent to 21.08 euros) and Alpha Bank (0.40 percent to 24.80 euros). Other big gainers were EFG Eurobank (2.99 percent to 28.26 euros) and cement maker Titan (2.19 percent to 42.90 euros). Turnover reached 376.51 million euros.
