Small-caps hit hardest in thin trade
The market’s reaction to Prime Minister George Papandreou’s speech in Thessaloniki over the weekend was far from positive yesterday, with most stocks posting losses on the Greek bourse, which was also affected by negative news on construction activity. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,587.66 points yesterday, declining marginally by 0.04 percent from last Friday’s close at 1,588.33 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shrank by 0.17 percent to end at 772.31 points. Small-caps saw a bigger decline, with the FTSE/ATHEX 80 index dropping by 1.35 percent. Ellaktor led the blue chips with gains of 1.72 percent, just ahead of Public Power Corporation (up 1.71 percent). OTE telecom added 1.17 percent and National Bank grew by 0.53 percent. Titan cement was the worst off (down 3.51 percent), followed by ATEbank (1.89 percent) and Alpha Bank (1.65 percent). A total of 57 stocks went up, 106 headed south and 39 remained unchanged. Karamolegos Bakery led the gainers with a 9.52 percent rise, while Technical Publications posted the biggest losses (down 18.42 percent). Turnover came to a disappointing 57.5 million euros, against a daily average of 108.8 million last week.
