Stocks end week 1.85 pct lower
Sliding international markets prompted investors to cash in on gains on the Athens bourse yesterday, sending bank stocks more than 3 percent lower. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index gave up 1.85 percent to end at 1,713.01 points but managed to hold onto gains of 1.84 percent for the week. Banks dropped 3.09 percent. National Bank fell 3.57 percent to 11.35 euros and peer Alpha ended at 5.85 euros, off 2.50 percent for the session. Eurobank showed steep losses, falling 4.76 percent to 6 euros, while Piraeus Bank gave up 3.41 percent to 5.10 euros. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shrank by 2.25 percent to 838.56 points. Power company PPC eased 0.62 percent to 12.92 euros and lottery operator OPAP slipped 0.84 percent to 11.80 euros. OTE telecom, which disappointed investors earlier this week by reporting a larger-than-expected second-quarter loss of 60.8 million euros, also ended in the red, down 2.52 percent to 6.20 euros. The stock has lost 0.48 percent in the last five sessions. Turnover fell to 89.15 million euros from 107 million previously.
