Stocks up 1.6 pct on rebound
Greek stocks rebounded yesterday after a two-session losing streak, with banks jumping nearly 4 percent. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index rose 1.69 percent to 1,541.72 points, just ahort of session highs. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index gained 2.40 percent to 752.96 points. Banks leapt 3.92 percent. Bellwether National Bank, which reports second-quarter earnings today, rose 4.10 percent to 10.15 euros and peer Alpha soared 5.24 percent to 5.22 euros. Hellenic Postbank led the gainers, rising 6.98 percent to 4.60 euros. ATEbank, which posted losses of 109.9 million euro loss in the first half of the year compared to a profit of 71.3 million in the same period last year, added 1.89 percent to 1.08 euros. Betting company OPAP moved higher 1.99 percent to 11.30 euros. After the close of trade, the company reported a 61.6 percent drop in second-quarter net profits to 597 million euros, in line with market forecasts. Cement company Titan firmed 0.33 percent to 15.20 euros. It said first-half profits rose 15 percent to 68 million euros. The second-quarter reporting season wraps up at the end of the month. Turnover reached 81.2 million euros versus 80 million in the previous session.
