Bourse rise continues
The Greek bourse followed the rising trend in the markets of Spain and Portugal yesterday and continued registering gains. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,546.93 points yesterday, expanding by 2.62 percent from Wednesday’s closing at 1,507.40 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index grew by 2.68 percent to end at 723.61 points. Bank of Cyprus outperformed other blue chips with gains of 6.64 percent, followed by Public Power Corp. (up 4.83 percent), OTE telecoms (3.62 percent) and National Bank (3.28 percent). Jumbo lost 2.33 percent and Piraeus Bank fell by 1.91 percent. In total 118 stocks moved up, 46 went down and 64 stayed put. Lazaridis led those rising with a 20-percent growth, while Attica Publications was the worst off with a 20-percent decline. Turnover came to 148.7 million euros, up from 123 million euros on Wednesday.