ATHEX: Stocks post marginal decline after recovery effort runs out of steam
Despite a strong start to the trading day that saw the Greek benchmark climb 2.50 percent, in line with most of its European peers, the local bourse closed on Wednesday with marginal losses as concerns about the banking sector weighed on markets across the continent, led by the troubles at Deutsche Bank.
The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 449.37 points, the day’s low, shedding 0.32 percent from Tuesday’s 450.83 points.
The large-cap FTSE 25 index rose 0.19 percent to end at 117.07 points, largely thanks to banks clawing back 0.27 percent (after being up 10.57 percent at one point during the session), and that in turn was exclusively thanks to Alpha Bank, which advanced 3.57 percent. The other three systemic lenders saw their stocks lose ground for yet another day, as Piraeus dropped 3.23 percent, National declined 2.31 percent and Eurobank lost 1.76 percent, while Attica Bank was a non-mover.
Non-banking chips that took the worst beating, as PPC shrank 8.65 percent, Viohalco slumped 8.13 percent and Ellaktor fell 6.30 percent. Coca-Cola HBC rose 4.25 percent.
In total 41 stocks recorded gains, 60 suffered losses and 22 remained unchanged.
Turnover amounted to 64.8 million euros, down from Tuesday’s 96.2 million.
In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange edged up 0.20 percent to 65.59 points.
