Construction escapes fall
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) closed with losses in the last week of May. The general index ended 1.37 percent lower on Friday from a week earlier, at 2,297.56 points. The total volume of trading reached 556.7 million euros, an average of 111.34 million per session. The main three Financial Times indices ended lower. The FTSE/ASE-80 of small-caps lost 2.02 percent, blue chips on the FTSE/ASE-20 index were 1.01 percent lower and the FTSE/ASE-40 of mid-caps registered losses of 0.92 percent. All sectoral indices also posted losses, except construction and holdings. The publishing and printing index was the worst affected, ending 7.14 percent lower, followed by that of television and entertainment (6.09 percent), telecommunications (3.39 percent) and retail commerce (3.27 percent). By contrast, construction stocks performed relatively well, sending the respective index 2.99 percent higher. The holdings index gained 0.08 percent while non-metallic minerals and cement gained 0.02 percent. Sex Form led individual gainers, rising 18.60 percent from a week earlier, followed by Ridenco with 17.01 percent, Klonatex with 10.98 percent, Technodomi with 10.69 percent and ATEMKE with 10 percent. Among the losers, the hardest hit were Viosol (16.42 percent), Fourlis (16.39 percent), Lambrakis Press (14.79 percent), and Keranis Holdings (12.96 percent). Commercial Bank was the most heavily traded stock, with 12.8 million shares, followed by Sex Form with 5.8 million. (Reuters) Secondly, a more inclusive definition of public debt should put pressure on government officials to pursue a more aggressive policy on structural reforms, strengthening the economy’s growth foundations in the long-run.
