Shares lose 0.88 pct, banks underperform
Equities fell for the second straight session yesterday, as the market digested a batch of earnings reports while telecoms lost ground, dragged down by poor performances from European peers. Brokers said healthy results from power utility Public Power Corporation went unnoticed as investors were determined to cash in recent gains. «The timing of these results was not good as the market looked like it was in the mood to correct,» said Vassilis Vlastarakis, analyst at Contalexis Securities. The Athens bourse benchmark general index fell 0.88 percent to 2,346.20 points. The banking index fell 1.20 percent while index heavyweight National Bank dropped 2.09 percent to 22.52 euros. The bourse’s FTSE/ASE-20 blue chip index ended off 0.89 percent at 1,235.29 points. Mid-caps fell 1.28 percent with small-caps losing 1.64 percent. Turnover was 98.03 million euros on volume of 21.9 million shares. Losers beat winners 285 to 51 while 22 shares were unchanged on 358 traded. (Reuters)
