ATHEX: Stock gains only contain week’s drop

Friday’s rebound for stocks at Athinon Avenue served to distance the benchmark from the 1,200-point level it narrowly held on to over Wednesday and Thursday, and to contain the index’s losses incurred during the week. Moving contrary to the flow in the rest of the eurozone, the local bourse recovered some of the ground recently lost, with banks and Jumbo retailer leading the price growth.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,217.75 points, adding 1.47% to Thursday’s 1,200.04 points. On a weekly basis it declined 3.24%, in the fourth consecutive week of losses for the benchmark.

The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 1.91% to end at 2,973.19 points and the banks index collected 3.30%.

Piraeus Bank jumped 4.75%, Eurobank earned 4.47%, Motor Oil grabbed 4.07%, Jumbo advanced 4.02% and GEK Terna grew 3.89%, while Viohalco surrendered 3%.

In total 60 stocks rose, 32 decreased and 21 stayed put. Turnover was the lowest of the last 12 sessions, amounting to 82.6 million euros, down from Thursday’s €109.5 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange increased 0.46% to 132.19 points.