Stocks drop on fresh warning from Fitch
Greek stocks fell yesterday, with the latest warning of a rating downgrade from Fitch shaking weak sentiment. On Wednesday, Fitch became the third major credit rating agency to put Greece on review for a possible downgrade this month as the economy struggles in a deepening recession. The Athens bourse’s benchmark general index slipped 0.69 percent to 1,449.12 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shed 1.03 percent to end at 681.35 points. National Bank gave up 3.52 percent to 6.31 euros while peer Alpha fell 1.71 percent to 4.03 euros. Power company PPC retreated 2.18 percent to 11.24 euros and OTE telecom ended at 6.37 euros, off 1.70 percent for the day. Turnover reached 59 million euros, down from 73 million in the previous session. The Athens bourse will be closed tomorrow for the Christmas break.