Athens bourse gains 3.2 pct
Greek stocks jumped more than 3 percent yesterday, reverting to the 1,800-point mark, as buyers turned to banks. The Athens Exchange’s benchmark general index added 3.21 percent to reach 1,807.85 points, outperforming gains on other European bourses. Banks, which have shed 73 percent this year, added 8.08 percent yesterday. National Bank, the country’s largest lender, jumped 8.70 percent to 13.50 euros and peer Alpha climbed 11.15 percent higher to 6.78 euros. Among the losers were pharmaceutical company Alapis, which fell 22.22 percent to 0.49 euros. It was the session’s most heavily traded stock with some 37 million shares changing hands. Turnover rose to 120.5 million euros from 68.3 million euros in the previous session.
