Late buying cuts stock losses
Late-session buying helped to trim losses on the Athens bourse yesterday, with bank stocks sliding after a number of leading lenders reported earnings during the week. The Athens Exchange’s benchmark general index slipped 0.36 percent to 1,535.82 points after dipping to an intra-session low of 1,507.60 points. Banks lost 2.95 percent. Marfin Popular Bank was among the big losers, plunging 9.59 percent to 1.32 euros. Piraeus Bank, which reported a larger-than-expected drop in 2008 earnings yesterday, retreated 3.02 percent to 3.86 euros. OTE telecom bucked the trend, rising 2.23 percent to 10.08 euros, along with gaming company OPAP, which added 2.31 percent to 20.36 euros. Turnover reached 126.5 million euros versus 114 million euros in the previous session.
