Stocks fall as investors cash gains
Greek stocks fell 1.58 percent yesterday as investors cashed in recent blue chip gains with buyers turning to small- and mid-cap shares. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index, which had gained just over 13 percent in the last 10 sessions, ended at 1,569.99 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index dipped 2.08 percent to 745.08 points. Banks shed 2.75 percent, led by a 2.26 percent drop in National Bank to 9.94 euros. Alpha Bank gave up 4.61 percent to 4.55 euros and Bank of Cyprus ended the day at 3.61 euros, off 3.48 percent. Hellenic Exchanges, which on Monday announced cuts to its fees in a bid to boost its competitiveness, tumbled 4.49 percent to 4.89 euros. Betting company OPAP fell 3.80 percent to 11.64 euros and OTE telecom slipped 0.91 percent to 6.51 euros. The mid-cap FTSE/ATHEX 40 index added 1.02 percent and the small-cap FTSE/ATHEX 80 index gained 0.68 percent. Fish farming company Nireus outperformed, jumping 11.11 percent to 0.70 euros, and Intracom Holdings advanced 10.29 percent to 0.75 euros. Turnover eased to 68.8 million euros from 84 million euros in the previous session.
