ATHEX: Moderate rise for local stocks

Greek bank stocks declined at the start of the week, but the Athens bourse benchmark recorded a rise on the back of healthy gains by some major chips, such as OTE, OPAP and Coca-Cola HBC, while the majority of stocks also headed north.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index reversed morning losses to close at 718.04 points, adding 0.78 percent to Friday’s 712.49 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index expanded 0.70 percent ending at 217.21 points, but small caps decreased 1.19 percent.

The banks index gave up another 4.47 percent on Monday on top of Friday’s losses. National Bank lost 6.58 percent, Alpha fell 2.92 percent and Piraeus dropped 1.08 percent.

OPAP advanced 3.73 percent, Folli Follie grew 3.16 percent, Titan Cement added 3.08 percent and EYDAP increased 2.61 percent. Piraeus Port Authority contracted 1.40 percent.

In total 43 stocks recorded gains, 40 registered losses and 16 closed unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 35.3 million euros, down from last Friday’s 49.8 million.