Hesitant rise continues, index at new 2007 high
Greek stocks continued their hesitant advance for the fifth consecutive session yesterday, with blue chips and small-caps especially staging a recovery. Health stocks outperformed. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index was 0.13 percent higher at 5,154.68 points, the blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index gained 0.22 percent and the FTSE/ATHEX 40 mid-cap index was up 0.30 percent. The FTSE/ATHEX 80 small-cap index advanced 1.01 percent. The FTSE/ATHEX International added 0.22 percent. Hellenic Technodomiki led blue chips, climbing 3.37 percent, Intralot rebounded 1.82 percent to a new historic high of -29.02, Cosmote advanced 1.79 percent to -25.00 (also an historic high) and National Bank added 1.64 percent. Hellenic Petroleum, Titan and banks Postal Savings, Eurobank, Emporiki, Alpha, ATE and Cyprus also headed north. By contrast, Coca-Cola HBC shed 1.45 percent, Viohalco dropped 1.39 percent and OPAP was 1.33 percent lower. Banks Piraeus and Marfin Popular, Public Power Corporation and OTE were also lower. Turnover totaled -453.08 million, of which -116.96 million was in block trades, including 1.34 million shares of Cosmote purchased by parent company OTE for -32.74 million.
