Banks weigh heavily on main index
Bank stock losses dragged the main index to just under the 1,500-point level yesterday, although gains for OTE telecom, OPAP and Coca-Cola HBC stopped it from dropping further. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,499.39 points, declining by 0.46 percent from last Friday’s close at 1,506.32 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index fell 0.84 percent to end at 713.63 points. OPAP registered the biggest gains among blue chips, amounting to 1.89 percent, followed by Coca-Cola HBC (up 1.54 percent) and OTE (0.84 percent). Worst off were the blue chips of Eurobank EFG (down 4.74 percent), National Bank (3.13 percent), Alpha Bank (2.21 percent) and Mytilineos (2.07 percent). The banks’ sectoral index has posted a considerable decline over the last couple of sessions that adds up to 5.19 percent, as the market is expecting news from the European Union summit this week. In total, 52 stocks moved up, 108 went down and 41 remained unchanged. Eleftheri Tileorasi led the gainers with growth of 12.77 percent, while Alsinco posted the biggest loss with a 10 percent decline. Turnover came to 87.9 million euros, up from 81 million on Friday.
