ATHEX: Small loss for benchmark at Athinon Ave

After a positive start to Monday’s bourse session, the benchmark started losing ground on selective profit-taking by traders that eventually saw the main index end in the red while the indexes of banks and mid-caps closed with gains. This is a week of major decisions by central banks abroad, on Wednesday and Thursday, therefore investors are predictably playing defense until then.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 912.94 points, shedding 0.33% from Friday’s 915.99 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 0.39% to end at 2,211.16 points, though mid-caps expanded 0.39%.

The banks index improved 0.23%, on Piraeus jumping 3.01% and National grabbing 0.22%, while Alpha dropped 0.45% and Eurobank eased 0.19%. Sarantis gave up 2.84% and Quest Holdings fell 1.96%.

In total 33 posted posted gains, 61 endured losses and 19 remained unchanged.

Turnover was the lowest of the last three weeks, amounting to 37.8 million euros, down from last Friday’s €46.2 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased 0.55% to close at 89.51 points.