Once again, banks drag market down
Equities headed southward yesterday after an early session bounce fizzled as earnings jitters returned to hammer banks, dragging the market to new intra-day year low. Alpha Bank lost 1.82 percent to 12.98 euros, falling to January 1998 levels. The bank has seen almost 230 million euros wiped off its market capitalization this week after an outlook downgrade from Standard & Poor’s dented sentiment. Banks lost 1.12 percent and index heavyweight National Bank fell 1.25 percent to 18.92 euros. The Athens benchmark general index eased 0.27 percent to 2,137.40 points, ending the week 2.7 percent or 60.47 points lower. Blue chips on the bourse’s ASE/FTSE-20 index slipped 0.66 percent to 1,099.18 points. Mid-caps advanced 0.51 percent but small-caps eased 0.35 percent. Turnover was 81.06 million euros on 15 million shares traded. Losers beat winners 147 to 130 and 74 shares were unchanged on 351 traded. (Reuters) The Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) yesterday announced that it will auction 1 billion euros of a 10-year, 5.25-percent bond maturing in May 2012 on July 16. The settlement date will be July 19 with only primary dealers allowed to participate. PDMA said primary dealers may also submit non-competitive bids for up to 20 percent of the auctioned amount until July 18. (Reuters)
