High turnover in week of fresh gains
Stocks edged higher for another week, with the bourse’s main index registering a new high for 2009 and reaching levels that hadn’t been seen since October 2008. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed the week on Friday at 2,555.37 points, recording 1.12 percent growth over the previous week’s closure at 2,527.11 points. The past week’s main characteristic has been an increase in transaction volume, with a greater number of prearranged deals. This is due to the end of derivatives for the third quarter of the year, which has led several listed companies to some window dressing of their portfolios, by registering capital gains from the rise of stocks in the last two weeks of August and the first three weeks of September. The local bourse added to its gains of the previous weeks, thanks to the positive atmosphere on the European and American markets after a wave of positive forecasts for the global economy. The ATHEX general index’s gains since the start of the year exceed 43 percent.
