Banks lead in upbeat session
Stocks rebounded on the local bourse yesterday to end the month on a positive note, with buying interest once again focused on banks. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,913.16 points yesterday, expanding by 2.17 percent from Thursday’s close at 1,872.53 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index grew by 3.10 percent to end at 952.75 points. The biggest gains for blue chips were for bank stocks, led by Marfin Popular Bank (up 8.33 percent), Bank of Cyprus (6.60 percent), EFG Eurobank (6.55 percent), Alpha Bank (5.16 percent), Piraeus Bank (4.07 percent) and National Bank (3.95 percent). There were moderate losses for Hellaktor (down 1.42 percent) and OTE telecom (0.35 percent), while Coca-Cola HBC remained unchanged. Turnover came to 149.7 million euros.
