Banks fall; bourse drops 1 pct
Greek stocks lost 1 percent yesterday on continued weakness in banks but real-estate developer Babis Vovos jumped on good news about one of its major projects. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index ended at 1,647.89 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index fell 1.33 percent to 803.60 points. Banks moved southward 1.57 percent. Alpha Bank dropped 3.39 percent to 5.70 euros and National retreated 1.50 percent to 10.53 euros. Betting company OPAP eased 0.86 percent to 11.70 euros. Piraeus Securities said yesterday it expects OPAP to report a 57 percent drop in second-quarter profits to 66.7 million euros. OPAP is scheduled to report figures on Thursday. Babis Vovos trimmed earlier gains of nearly 9 percent, rising 3.54 percent to 3.51 euros. Earlier, an Environment Ministry source told Reuters the government plans to submit to Parliament next month a bill opening the way for the completion of the developer’s 300-million-euro shopping mall in Votanikos, central Athens. Turnover reached 52.1 million euros versus 57 million euros previously.
