ATHEX: Banks index rises 5.5 percent

Investors appeared satisfied with the government’s draft law on the banks’ recapitalization, with the credit sector index posting gains of 5.52 percent and rising stocks outnumbering their southbound counterparts by two to one in Tuesday’s session at the Greek bourse.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 693.10 points, adding 1.17 percent to Monday’s 685.11 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 1.03 percent to end at 207.51 points.

Tuesday’s was the fourth consecutive session that the banks index enjoyed gains, which came up to 25.35 percent. Piraeus Bank rose 8 percent, National grew 5.54 percent and Alpha advanced 5.19 percent.

Another noteworthy feature of yesterday’s session was the buying interest shown in non-banking chips, such as EYDAP (up 7.96 percent), Lamda Development (4.73 percent), Ellaktor (4.12 percent) and Hellenic Petroleum (3.02 percent). OTE telecom was one of only four blue chips that headed down, as it lost 1.61 percent.

In total 55 stocks recorded gains, 27 sustained losses and 15 closed unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 25.8 million euros, up from Monday’s 24.1 million.