ATHEX: News from Frankfurt boosts index

The prospect of a new European Central Bank intervention in favor of overindebted member-states, which Frankfurt raised on Wednesday, boosted prices at Athinon Avenue and saw the benchmark cover almost half of the losses incurred during Tuesday’s selling spree. It came off a three-month low with banks and some other index heavyweights leading the way, though turnover was significantly down on Tuesday’s.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 838.94 points, adding 1.96% to Tuesday’s 822.84 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 2.38%, ending at 2,028.26 points.

The banks index grew 2.82%, as Alpha rebounded 5.37%, National earned 2.31%, Eurobank grabbed 1.80% and Piraeus climbed 0.93%. Coca-Cola HBC improved 4.46%, OTE rose 4.26%, Motor Oil augmented 4.26% and Jumbo collected 3.33%, but GEK Terna gave up 1.98%.

In total 60 stocks posted gains, 38 suffered losses and 22 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 75.8 million euros, down from Tuesday’s €115.3 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased 1.53% to 71.53 points.