Sales of OTE shares drag the bourse down
Heavy losses in index heavyweight OTE Telecom dragged the Athens bourse lower yesterday as news that the State would cut its stake in the telecoms group raised concerns of stock oversupply. Brokers said selling pressure arose at OTE as players anticipated the State would transfer the 40.32 million shares at a lower price. «Institutionals were selling OTE, betting on a significant discount in the price of the private placement,» said Annie Triandafyllou, analyst at National Securities. OTE ended just off session lows at 16.98 euros, down 3.08 percent. The bourse’s benchmark index ended at 2,277.55 points, down 0.86 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 blue chip index fell 0.72 percent to 1,202.56 points with banks shedding 0.68 percent. Mid-caps slipped 0.38 percent and small-caps eased 0.30 percent. Losers beat winners 178 to 112, while 63 shares were unchanged on 353 traded. Turnover was 76.58 million euros on 15.6 million shares traded. (Reuters) The Public Power Corporation (PPC) said yesterday it will issue bonus shares for retail investors who have held on to their PPC shares for six months. PPC said in a statement that non-institutional investors who participated in the company’s initial public offering for listing on the Athens and London stock exchanges would receive one bonus share for each 10 held at the close of trade on June 11. There is a maximum limit of 200 shares per shareholder, the company said. Bonus shares will be issued after mid-July. (Reuters)
