ATHEX: Moderate rise on quiet day of trade

The Athens stock market changed direction on Thursday for the fourth time this week, swapping losses for gains for the benchmark. However, the losers marginally outnumbered the winners, while trading volume was so low one would be excused for thinking it was watered down by the Ballos weather front that has been battering the country since Wednesday.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 888.59 points, adding 0.51% to Wednesday’s 884.11 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.60% to end at 2,148.53 points.

The banks index improved 0.78%, as Alpha collected 1.85%, Piraeus climbed 0.92% and Eurobank earned 0.35%. National gave up 0.40%.

Jumbo augmented 2.44%, Hellenic Petroleum rose 1.67% and Titan Cement grew 1.49%, just as Viohalco parted with 0.90%.

In total 49 stocks secured gains, 51 suffered losses and 25 remained unchanged.

Turnover was the lowest of the last two months, amounting to just 28.8 million euros, down from Wednesday’s €46.4 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange decreased 0.66% to close at 65.89 points.