ATHEX: Late surge offsets all early losses

The expected rebalancing of the FTSE Russell index, with the shift of five Greek stocks, sent turnover soaring in the closing auctions on Friday and boosted the benchmark to the extent that it offset all earlier losses and ended up in the black at the end of a week with significant gains. Banks played a role too, with their index growing over 10% in total this week.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 862.86 points, adding 0.09% to Thursday’s 862.09 points. On a weekly basis it improved 4.22%.

The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.23%, ending at 2,081.71 points, but the mid-cap index contracted 0.60%.

The banks index rose 2.43%, as Eurobank jumped 3.57%, Piraeus collected 2.91%, National earned 1.67% and Alpha grabbed 1.51%. Viohalco rebounded 2.29%, as Motor Oil slumped 3.11% and ADMIE Holdings was down 2.41%.

Overall 58 stocks recorded gains, 35 endured losses and 23 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 125 million euros, up from Thursday’s €110.4 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased 0.34% to close at 65.47 points.