Imported gloom stays; small-caps buck trend
Greek blue chips and mid-caps headed south for the third consecutive session yesterday, affected by the continuing negative sentiment on foreign markets after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s statements on inflation and the realty market on Tuesday and the European Central Bank’s 25-basis point hike in its basic rate to 4 percent yesterday. Small-caps bucked the trend. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index slid as much as 1.12 percent lower during the session but rebounded in the last hour of trading to close 0.52 percent down, at 4,873.13. The FTSE/ATHEX 20 blue chip index was down 0.45 percent, at 2,610.25 points. The FTSE/ATHEX Mid-40 fell 0.56 percent to 6,202.14 points, while the FTSE/ATHEX 80 small-cap index added 0.95 percent to reach 1,103.02 points. Among blue chips, Eurobank put up the strongest resistance to pressures, advancing 0.76 percent, Piraeus Bank was 0.21 percent higher and Bank of Cyprus gained 0.62 percent. Hellenic Technodomiki and Hellenic Petroleum also headed north. By contrast, Alpha Bank slumped 2.38 percent, Motor Oil was 1.44 percent leaner, ATEbank lost 1.03 percent and Viohalco 1.01 percent. Turnover totaled -379.177 million, including -65.69 million in block trades.
