Stocks ease 0.12 pct but remain above 2,200 points
Soft banks outweighed slight telecom gains yesterday leaving the Athens bourse 0.12 percent lower. CosmOTE added 0.4 percent to 10.14 euros, after gaining more than 6 percent over the past two sessions on healthy first-quarter subscriber growth. «There is obviously a strong buyer in CosmOTE. Its first-quarter subscriber results were good but it is unlikely that this alone provided this recent push upward. There is some talk that it will be included in the MSCI index,» said a broker. Index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) will announce changes to its index series today. The Athens benchmark general index shed 0.12 percent to 2,204.89 points, while banks slipped 0.20 percent and telecoms rose 0.09 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips slipped 0.07 percent to 1,162.98 points. The FTSE/ASE-40 index of mid-caps fell 0.39 percent and small-caps on the FTSE/ASE-80 lost 0.33 percent. Total turnover was 73.53 million euros on volume of 12.7 million shares. Losers beat winners 157 to 151, with 51 unchanged on 359 traded. (Reuters)
