Stocks fall on profit-taking
The Athens Exchange gave up just over 1 percent yesterday, trimming mid-session losses as investors chipped away at gains from the previous session’s rally. The ATHEX’s benchmark general index closed 1.05 percent lower at 3,175.54 points after touching an intra-session low of 3,147 points. Analysts said investors will be watching out for news today on whether the Athens bourse will possibly curb short-selling practices, in line with a number of other exchanges worldwide. Among the losers for the day were OTE telecom (down 3.86 percent), Alpha Bank (1.0 percent) and Marfin Investment Group (1.68 percent). The FTSE/ATHEX mid-cap 40 index outperformed, adding 0.31 percent. Turnover was 247.7 million euros versus 584 million euros in the previous session.
