Stocks dip after early advance
Greek stocks dipped yesterday on waning enthusiasm over last week’s deal among eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund that they would lend to Greece if the country could not raise capital on markets, brokers said. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index fell 0.49 percent to 2137.37 points after touching on an intra-session high of 2,173 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index eased 0.92 percent to 1,066.25 points. Banks retreated 1.37 percent. The Thessaloniki Water and Sewerage Company (EYATH) outperformed, adding 3.91 percent to 4.25 euros on talk that the government will sell off a stake in the utility as part of its privatization program. Shares in its Athens peer EYDAP also jumped, gaining 4.17 percent to 6.25 euros. Turnover reached 140.6 million euros versus 285 million in the previous session.