Stocks fall 1 pct on weak banks
Greek stocks lost more than 1 percent yesterday as weak banks outweighed gains in blue chips, such as the Public Power Corporation (PPC) and Coca-Cola Hellenic. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index fell 1.09 percent to 2,089.71 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index dropped 1.68 percent to 1,039.62 points. Banks, which have added 15 percent in the last month, shed 2.59 percent. Alpha Bank gave up 3.41 percent to 7.08 euros after reporting on Tuesday a 31.7 percent drop in 2009 profits to 350 million euros. National Bank retreated 2.92 percent to 15.63 euros. PPC ranked among the winners, adding 3.84 percent to 12.98 euros, as did Coca-Cola Hellenic, which rose 3.35 percent to 20.05 euros. Turnover rose to 231.6 million euros from 143 million in the previous session.
