Market rally continues; index reaches new high
Stocks gained for the third session in a row yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), reaching another year-high. The ASE compound share index closed at 4,638.62 points, a gain of 23.15 points or 0.50 percent. This is the highest closing level since May 2000. The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chips gained 0.50 percent to close at 2,530.79 points, while mid-caps and small-caps gained 1.09 percent and 0.75 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International gained 0.59 percent, closing at 6,646.53 points. Twelve of 17 sectoral indices gained. The top gainers were chemicals (higher 4.08 percent), financial services (3.08 percent) and oil and gas (1.64 percent). The top losers were media (less 0.55 percent), telecommunications (0.51 percent) and technology (0.33 percent). Among blue chips, the top gainers were refiner Motor Oil (up 4 percent to 19.76), Bank of Cyprus (3.77 percent to an all-time high 11.56), Piraeus Bank (2.19 percent to 26.08, also an all-time high), metals group Viohalco (1.08 percent to 9.40), mobile telecoms company Cosmote (1.04 percent to 23.34) and National Bank (1.03 percent to 37.18). Turnover reached 461.07 million, including 16.48 million in prearranged trades.
