Pressure on National hurts stocks
The considerable pressure exerted on the stock of National Bank dragged the Athens bourse lower during a session of significant fluctuations, which was also affected by the nervous climate on international markets. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,451.45 points yesterday, falling 0.61 percent from Monday’s close at 1,460.33 points, although at one point it had been showing gains of 0.76 percent. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index contracted by 0.87 percent to end at 683.38 points. OTE telecom led blue chips with 2.62 percent growth, edging ahead of OPAP (up 2.48 percent). Marfin Investment Group lost 4.84 percent, National Bank declined by 3.39 percent to close at 6.56 euros and Hellenic Petroleum dropped 2.73 percent. In total, 50 stocks moved up, 104 went down and 47 remained unchanged. Forthnet led the gainers with 16.67 percent growth, while Vogiatzoglou Systems posted the biggest loss with a 18.11 percent decline. Turnover came to 113.7 million euros, up from 91.8 million in the previous session.
