ATHEX: Stock index refuses to yield ground

With its eyes and ears turned to the midterm elections in the US, it was a mixed picture on the Greek market on Tuesday, as the early gains gave way to losses before sellers got the upper hand focusing on certain blue chips. The balance of winners and losers is telling, as a significant majority of stocks ended up in the red for the day. Still, the benchmark notched up a fresh three-month high.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 887.54 points, adding 0.25% to Monday’s 885.30 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.24%, to end up at 2,163.65 points, but mid-caps slipped 0.08%.

The banks index collected 0.34%, on National earning 1.35% and Alpha grabbing 0.83%, while Piraeus gave up 0.78% and Eurobank parted with 0.48%. Coca-Cola HBC jumped 3.85% and Titan Cement improved 2.40%, just as Terna Energy conceded 2.02%.

In total 33 stocks obtained gains, 58 endured losses and 19 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 50.2 million euros, up from Monday’s €48.3 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange decreased 0.04% to close at 76.42 points.