Stocks lose ground as NBG slides
Greek stocks fell more than 1 percent yesterday, dropping below the 1,600-point mark on widespread losses. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index gave up 1.40 percent to 1,588.33 points, showing losses of 4.13 percent for the week. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shed 1.54 percent to end at 773.66 points. Banks fell 1.83 percent. National Bank (NBG) dropped 2.89 percent to 9.40 euros, bringing losses in the last four days to 16 percent. Earlier this week, the bank announced plans to raise a total of 2.8 billion euros via a share capital increase, the issuance of convertible bonds and the sale of a minority stake in its Turkish unit, Finansbank. NBG’s board yesterday approved plans for the capital boost. Alpha Bank dipped 2.33 percent to 5.45 euros and peer Eurobank EFG retreated 3.36 percent to 5.18 euros. Cement company Titan fell 2.58 percent to 15.10 euros, while Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling ended at 19.10 euros, off 2.05 percent. Among the winners was OTE telecom, which advanced 0.84 percent to 5.98 euros, and oil refinery Hellenic Petroleum, which moved ahead 1.34 percent to 6.03 euros. Turnover reached 87.3 million euros versus 105 million in the previous session.
