Further decline in keeping with Europe
Stocks on the Greek market continued their decline yesterday, affected by the negative climate in Europe and proving once again that the local market lacks direction of its own. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index slid lower by 0.55 percent and closed at 4,850 points, just 15 points shy of the 4,876.87 points on Thursday. The FTSE/ATHEX 20 blue chip index declined by 0.50 percent to end at 2,583.48 points. The FTSE/ATHEX Mid-40 lost 0.56 percent and the FTSE/ATHEX 80 small-cap index fell by 0.46 percent. The FTSE/ATHEX international index showed a 0.47 percent drop to close at 6,939.50 points. Viohalco outperformed among blue chips with 2.36 percent growth, with Hellenic Petroleum (up 1.87 percent) and Intralot (1.67 percent) also showing certain gains. At the other end, Motor Oil went down by 2.69 percent, followed by PPC (down 1.86 percent), Cosmote (1.80 percent), OTE telecom (1.40 percent) and EFG Eurobank (1.24 percent). Most sectoral indexes moved southward, led by utilities (down 1.69 percent), telecommunications (1.52 percent) and mass media (1.05 percent). Health stocks were the biggest gainers (up 0.86 percent), while industrial products rose by 0.69 percent. Turnover totaled -409.02 million, including -158.62 million in block trades.
