Local stocks climb above 1,600 pts
Late buying helped to lift Greek stocks above the 1,600-point mark yesterday as blue chip gains rubbed off on the broader market. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index added 1.24 percent to 1,605.82 points, advancing 0.47 percent for the week. The blue chip FTSE/ ATHEX 20 index moved ahead 1.29 percent to 781.70 points. Betting company OPAP jumped 3.59 percent to 12.70 euros and construction group Ellaktor soared 6.71 percent to 3.50 euros. Banks rose 0.95 percent. National Bank firmed 1.10 percent to 8.29 euros and peer Alpha ended at 5.43 euros, up 3.04 percent. Power plant builder Metka followed up Thursday’s 3.8 percent climb by adding 4.14 percent yesterday to end at 9.05 euros after signing a 678-million-euro deal to build a natural gas-powered energy unit in Syria. Turnover was 97.3 million euros.
