ATHEX: Sting in the tail of bourse session

Many local investors got caught in a bull trap at Athinon Avenue on Thursday, especially morning buyers who did not resort to any stop-loss action in the afternoon and suffered losses as the day’s closing was close to the session’s low for many stocks. The Greek bourse bucked the upward trend seen in most of Europe following the interest rate hike by the Fed, with the banks index sliding for the seventh session in a row.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 888.47 points, shedding 1.32% from Wednesday’s 900.35 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 1.42%, as it ended at 2,150.20 points.

The banks index dropped 2%, as National slumped 3.79%, Alpha sank 1.84%, Piraeus parted with 1.57% and Eurobank surrendered 0.82%. Quest Holdings plunged 5.20% and Jumbo gave up 3.49%, while Motor Oil advanced 3.27%.

In total 23 stocks posted gains, 82 recorded losses and 11 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 72.1 million euros, up from Wednesday’s €61.8 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased 0.36% to close at 69.49 points.