Quiet week spurs slight rise
The second week of September coincided with the last week before elections and witnessed a moderate rise in many stocks on the local market, despite worries imported from European markets about the size of the US mortgage crisis. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 4,861.79 points on Friday, a gain of 42.47 points, or 0.88 percent, on the week. It owes most of its growth to the banking sector, whose sectoral index climbed 1.90 percent. The continued rise in oil prices internationally as well as the decline of the dollar against the euro sent alarm signals across the world’s markets. However, the atmosphere improved on Thursday as unemployment figures in the US showed a better-than-expected picture. In Greece, the week’s most important news among listed companies was the report by Hellenic Exchanges on the investment moves of last month, featuring a rare phenomenon: Although sellers from abroad outweighed buyers, the share of foreigners on the ATHEX increased. This is because the majority of stocks owned by foreign investors are blue chips which had fewer losses during the August fluctuations. Foreigners owned 52.22 percent of Greek stocks in August, up from 51.73 percent in July. From the start of 2007, the net inflow of capital from foreign investors has reached -5.165 billion. Among sectoral indices, utilities had significant gains of 4.48 percent on a weekly basis, followed by food and drink (up 2.73 percent) and telecommunications (2.17 percent). Industrial products had the biggest losses (down 3.39 percent), ahead of raw materials (2.63 percent) and mass media (2.02 percent).
