Bank report sends index to year low
The JP Morgan report that cut stock recommendations from «overweight» to «underweight» for National Bank, Alpha Bank and EFG Eurobank, as well as reducing their target prices, sent the local bourse spiraling to a new year-low yesterday. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,539.90 points yesterday, declining by 3.46 percent from last Friday’s close at 1,595.10 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index dropped by 1.02 percent to end at 742.97 points. JP Morgan slashed National’s target price from 25 euros to 9.80, Alpha’s from 10 to 4.70 and Eurobank’s from 7.60 to 3.80 euros. It also downgraded the recommendation for Piraeus Bank from «neutral» to «underweight» and for Bank of Cyprus from «overweight» to «neutral.» As a result, all blue chips posted losses, led by Marfin Investment Group (down 7.69 percent), Titan cement (7.57 percent) and Hellenic Petroleum (7.48 percent). National dropped by 4.47 percent, Eurobank shed 4.02 percent and Alpha Bank contracted by 2.32 percent. Elgeka had the biggest rise among all stocks, with gains of 19.70 percent, while the biggest losses were for Imperio (down 18.75 percent). Turnover amounted to 114.9 million euros.
