ATHEX: Profit-taking session after big advance

After a long period of growth that took the Greek bourse benchmark to an 85-month high, overdue profit-taking inflicted some losses on local stock prices that accelerated as the session went along on Tuesday. Some blue chips withstood the pressure, but the main index finished at the day’s low, pointing to a possible decline in Wednesday’s session too.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 944.64 points, shedding 1.22% from Monday’s 956.28 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 1.38%, ending at 2,280.73 points.

The banks index declined 1.45%, on Alpha falling 2.33%, Piraeus conceding 2.08%, Eurobank parting with 1.05% and National easing 0.31%.

Jumbo dropped 2.66%, Ellaktor gave up 2.22%, OPAP decreased 2.02% and Lamda Development was down 1.95%, but ElvalHalcor advanced 2.79% and EYDAP collected 2.01%.

In total 42 stocks posted gains, 74 suffered losses and nine remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 64.3 million euros, up from Monday’s €51.4 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased 0.60% to 69.20 points.