ATHEX heads 1.85% lower on Fed fears

Like all European stock markets, Athens was spooked Thursday by worries that the US Federal Reserve will cut down on its quantitative easing scheme, thus draining liquidity from the markets.

The ATHEX general index closed 1.85% lower at 881.95 points, after falling as much as 2.25% during the session.

Turnover was €42.61 million on 19,972,467 shares traded.

Just 11 of the 131 traded stocks ended with gains, while 111 retreated and nine were unchanged.

Blue chips dropped 2.02% and mid-caps 1.12%.

Construction group Ellaktor was the only blue chip that ended positively, and then only marginally (+0.07%). The biggest losers were Eurobank (4.15%), the stock exchange itself (3.24%) and metals processing group Viohalco (3.04%).