Market stabilizes as buyers seek small-caps
Stocks remained relatively stable yesterday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), as investor interest shifted to small-capitalization shares. The ASE composite share index closed at 4,678.31 points, a gain of 2.77 points or 0.06 percent. On a weekly basis, it gained 1.36 percent. It has gained 6.47 percent so far this year. The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chips declined 0.01 percent to close at 2,551.46 points, while mid- and small-caps gained 0.21 percent and 0.31 percent respectively. The FTSE/Athex International gained 0.04 percent, closing at 6,702.72 points. Ten out of 17 sectoral indices rose. The top gainers were media (up 7.35 percent), utilities (1.86 percent) and personal and household goods (1.39 percent). Among blue chips, the top gainers were Public Power Corporation (up 2.10 percent to -21.40), cement maker Titan (1.41 percent to -43.20) and Bank of Cyprus (1.16 percent to -12.20). The top losers were games of chance software and terminals maker Intralot (down 2.21 percent to -28.36) and refiner Motor Oil (1.90 percent to -19.60). Turnover reached -426.32 million, including -22.76 million in prearranged trades. The most heavily traded stocks in terms of number of shares were Marfin Popular Bank (3,795,639), Lannet (3,078,738) and Bank of Cyprus (1,891,114).
