Heavyweights lead blue chip rebound
Greek stocks rebounded with a lot of help from heavyweights such as state betting company OPAP, Public Power Corporation (PPC), Piraeus Bank and OTE telecom yesterday, bucking a generally southbound trend elsewhere in Europe. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 5,190.32 points, with a gain of 0.46 percent. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index was up 0.34 percent, the FTSE/ATHEX 40 mid-cap index rose 0.10 percent and the FTSE/ATHEX 80 small-cap index advanced 0.61 percent. The FTSE/ATHEX International gained 0.32 percent. OPAP outperformed among blue chips, surging 4.33 percent on news of the appointment of a new CEO, PPC climbed 2.55 percent after the Finance Ministry OK’d the oil price indexation of electricity rates, OTE advanced 1.88 percent and Piraeus Bank was up 1.39 percent. Cosmote and banks Alpha, ATE, Emporiki, National and Marfin Popular also headed north. By contrast, Bank of Cyprus slumped 2.67 percent and Hellenic Petroleum shed 2.33 percent. Viohalco, Motor Oil, Postal Savings Bank, Eurobank, Coca-Cola HBC, Hellenic Technodomiki, Intralot and Titan also ended in negative territory. Turnover rose to -434.20 million, of which -51.45 million was in block trades. The total capitalization of the ATHEX came to -199.16 billion.
