After Friday’s spurt, investors go for caution
Investors appeared markedly more cautious in blue chips, particularly banks, yesterday, after Friday’s sharp turnaround, making for a much less volatile session. The market as a whole nudged north after shedding larger initial gains. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed 0.11 percent up at 4,683.48 points, the FTSE/ATHEX 20 blue chip index slid 0.14 percent, while the FTSE/ATHEX Mid-40 added 0.21 percent and the FTSE/ATHEX 80 small-cap index was 0.66 percent higher. Sectoral indices were led by oil and gas, 2 percent higher, while utilities slumped the most, 2.14 percent. Postal Savings Bank recouped most of Friday’s steep losses, outperforming blue chips with a 5.04 percent surge to -14.58, Cosmote climbed 3.11 percent to -21.90, Hellenic Petroleum advanced 2.94 percent to -10.52 and Coca-Cola HBC added 2.18 percent to reach -34.74. By contrast, Alpha Bank slumped 2.59 percent to -22.56 and Public Power Corporation shed 2.48 percent to -20.46. OPAP cut down initial losses to 0.77 percent after strong buying interest in the second half of the session. National Bank, which led in turnover, closed at the day’s low of -40.40 after an initial high of -41.68. Turnover totaled -344.07 million, of which -37.75 million was in block trades.
