Index fails to maintain new seven-year high
Greek stocks rose to a new seven-year high in yesterday’s trading session, bolstered by Wall Street’s historic high on Wednesday, but shed most of the early gains toward the end. The ATHEX general index closed at 4,854.71 points, a rise of 0.37 percent, after rising as high as 4,881.36. The FTSE/ATHEX 20 added 0.58 percent to close at 2,602.79 points, while mid-caps shed 0.49 percent and small-caps nudged 0.03 percent higher. Most of the 17 sectoral indices ended in positive territory, led by travel and leisure which closed 2.10 percent higher. Banks rose 0.57 percent but insurance shed 1.74 percent. Blue chip gainers were led by OPAP, which was up 2.70 percent to -28.90 after a Credit Suisse report set a target price of -33. Hellenic Technodomiki advanced 1.98 percent, Motor Oil added 1.64 percent, Public Power Corporation was 1.39 percent higher and Coca-Cola HBC gained 1.19 percent. Banks Alpha, National, Eurobank, Piraeus and Postal Savings, as well as Intralot, Titan and Folli-Follie also headed north. By contrast, Bank of Cyprus, Viohalco, Hellenic Petroleum, Cosmote and OTE ended less than 1 percent lower, while banks ATE and Emporiki were unchanged. Turnover rose to -414.87 million, including -52.43 million in prearranged trades. National Bank accounted for -79 million.
