Fourth day of gains for Greek stocks
Greek stocks moved ahead for the fourth straight session as buying momentum in banks helped lift the sector despite intrasession profit-taking by investors. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index firmed 0.08 percent to end at 1,553.76 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index inched ahead 0.34 percent to 758.97 points. Banks climbed 0.78 percent, bringing gains over the last three sessions to just over 10 percent. Eurobank EFG jumped 3.20 percent to 5.16 euros and peer Alpha ended at 5.29 euros, up 0.19 percent. Piraeus Bank rose 0.50 percent to end at 4.03 euros. Data from the Athens bourse showed that foreign investors pulled a net 125 million euros from Greek equities in September, adding to 1.06 billion withdrawn earlier in the year. Foreign portfolios owned 49.8 percent of the Greek market’s free float in September, up from 49.4 percent in August and 43.5 percent in the same month a year earlier. Turnover eased 116.4 million euros down from 131 million in the previous session.
