Stocks fall for fifth session
Greek equities fell for a fifth straight session yesterday on widespread losses, despite gains on major European bourses. The Athens Exchange’s benchmark general index shed 0.91 percent to end at 1,447.15 points after spending much of the session in positive territory. In late afternoon trade yesterday, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were advancing by about 0.70 percent, while London’s FTSE remained almost unchanged. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index fell 1.07 percent to 680.85 points. Banks slipped 1.65 percent. Bank of Cyprus was one of the biggest losers, dropping 2.98 percent to 3.26 euros. National Bank, which denied press reports that it plans to move forward with a share capital increase, eased 0.66 percent to 9.06 euros. The lender added that its capital base was already strong. OTE telecom outperformed, adding 2.80 percent to 6.25 euros, and power company PPC rose 2.48 percent to 12.40 euros. Hellenic Exchanges fell 2.71 percent to 4.30 euros and betting company OPAP gave up 2.44 percent to end at 10.40 euros. Turnover reached 71.9 million euros versus 79 million in the previous session.
