ATHEX: Bourse yields ground on war concerns

Fears of an escalation of the war in Eastern Europe led stocks lower on the continent on Wednesday, including the Athens bourse, with banks suffering most after a few days of growth. Eventually the main index came off two month lows, near the 820-point mark, to end the day with losses that did not reach 1%. Turnover remained low though.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 826.32 points, shedding 0.90% from Tuesday’s 833.86 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 1.16% to end at 1,993.34 points.

The banks index dropped 3.41%, as National sank 4.07%, Alpha fell 3.72%, Eurobank declined 3.08% and Piraeus decreased 2.20%.

Viohalco parted with 2.73%, Sarantis eased 2.67% and Hellenic Petroleum shrank 2.48%, whereas Motor Oil expanded 2.67% and Coca-Cola HBC collected 0.78%.

In total 28 stocks obtained gains, 69 registered losses and 26 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 42.6 million euros, up from Tuesday’s €41.5 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased a remarkable 3.59% to close at 77.12 points.