OTE and PPC lead stocks up 1.3 percent
Stocks advanced 1.33 percent yesterday as buyers turned to the blue chips of OTE telecom and power company PPC, while bank shares took a breather. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index (ATHEX) ended at 1,769.93 points after spending the first half of the session in negative territory. The blue chip FTSE/ ATHEX 20 index firmed 0.82 percent to 874.06 points. OTE gained 3.81 percent to 6.54 euros and PPC jumped 4.64 percent to 13.08 euros. Banks eased 0.49 percent after Monday’s 7 percent rally. Shares in Frigoglass, the world’s largest maker of beverage coolers, ended flat at 9.50 euros, despite announcing better-than-expected first-half earnings. The company said net profit rose 137 percent to 14.8 million euros on the back of growth in Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. Brokers said investors had largely priced in the good news on Monday when the stock jumped nearly 5 percent. Piraeus Securities reiterated its outperform rating on the stock after news of the earnings figures. Turnover reached 128.5 million euros versus 133 million in the previous session.