OPAP, up 14 pct, leads rebound of blue chips
The benchmark Athens Exchange (ATHEX) index yesterday climbed the most it has in two months, gaining 118.17 points, or 3.1 percent, to 3,927.3. The FTSE/ATHEX 20 index of the country’s biggest companies rose 3.1 percent to 2,028.96 points. The following stocks were among the most active in trading: OPAP climbed 2.84 euros, or 14 percent, to -22.84, its biggest gain since April 2001. Europe’s third-biggest traded gaming company said on Wednesday fourth-quarter profits rose 13 percent to -174 million on increased sales from its two biggest games. Marfin Popular Bank gained 7.1 percent to -5.46, the biggest advance in two months. The government of Dubai got regulatory approval to increase its stake in Cyprus’s second-largest lender to 29.99 percent from 16.9 percent. Mytilineos Holdings rose 5.6 percent to -8.28, advancing for a second day. The energy and metals trading group said full-year profits rose 83 percent to -193.6 million after it set up a joint venture with Spanish utility Endesa SA. Public Power Corp rose 8.4 percent to -27, its biggest advance in two months. The country’s biggest electricity producer said profits surged tenfold to -222.3 million last year after it sold a stake in a telephone company. Turnover topped -483 million. (Bloomberg)
