Bad day for banks, mid-caps
The first session of the new month saw the bourse suffer significant losses, with banks at the focus of selling and mid-caps having a particularly bad day. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed yesterday at 1,504.23 points, dropping 2.79 percent from last Friday’s close at 1,547.43 points. It was the fourth consecutive day of decline for the main index. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shrank by 3.28 percent to end at 723.44 points. The mid-cap FTSE/ATHEX 40 index dropped by 4.07 percent. The only blue chip to register even minor gains yesterday was Coca-Cola HBC, up 1.02 percent. The leading losers were Hellenic Postbank (down 6.99 percent), Viohalco (6.86 percent), Ellaktor (5.99 percent), Hellenic Petroleum (5.90 percent), Piraeus Bank (5.61 percent) and Eurobank EFG (5.17 percent). The banks’ sectoral index closed with losses of 4.59 percent. There were 31 stocks heading up, 133 going down and 39 remaining unchanged. Retail clothing and footwear company Hatzioannou led gainers with a 16.67 percent rise, while Alapis was the worst off yesterday with a 10.32 percent loss. Turnover came to 123.5 million euros.
