All indices slide in week
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) general index posted considerable losses last week, sliding 4.81 percent to close at 1,792.45 points on Friday from 1,882.93 points a week earlier. Total trading volume also fell to 382.86 million euros (a daily average of 76.57 million) from 463.17 million euros the week before. Of the Financial Times indices, the FTSE/ASE-80 of small-cap stocks came under the strongest pressure, shedding 5.96 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 of blue chips and FTSE/ASE-Mid-40 of medium-caps slid 5.89 percent and 5.56 percent respectively. All sectoral indices ended down on the week. The biggest losses were sustained by holding companies, which receded 10.46 percent. IT equipment-solutions followed with 8.66 percent, wholesale commerce with 7.75 percent and banks with 7.51 percent. Of the 367 stocks traded, 311 lost ground, 46 gained and 10 remained unchanged. Petzetakis plastic pipes manufacturer’s common and preferred stocks registered the biggest losses, declining 35.18 percent and 32.68 percent respectively in the first four days of the week (due to technical reasons data was unavailable for all five sessions). The firm was badly hit by rumors of serious financial difficulties and the freezing by banks of some of the property of its main shareholder put up as collateral for a loan. Alfa Alfa Holdings lost 29.21 percent. Among the gainers (in four sessions), Texapret advanced 15.07 percent, and Eskimo’s common and preferred stocks 12.44 and 15 percent respectively. OTE Telecom was again the most heavily traded stock, followed by National Bank and Informatics.
