Shares retreat; lenders battered
Greek stocks fell more than 2 percent yesterday, as banks took a battering on concerns about Greece’s rising debt costs and the deepening fiscal crisis. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index dropped 2.21 percent to 2,048.69 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shed 2.78 percent to 1,011.46 points. Gains in power company Public Power Corporation (3.54 percent) and betting company OPAP (1.79 percent) helped trim losses in the blue chip index. Banks took a beating, falling 4.08 percent. National Bank lost 4.77 percent to 14.37 euros and Eurobank plunged 4.29 percent to 6.70 euros. Piraeus Bank gave up 5.07 percent to 6.18 euros. Turnover reached 141.6 million euros, versus 104 million in the previous session.