ATHEX: Bourse ends week with a 2.42 pct rise

The main index of the Greek bourse enjoyed its 11th session of gains in the last 12 trading days on Friday, albeit with the smallest turnover of the last 13 sessions, as traders appeared to be focusing more on the long weekend instead of activity at Athinon Avenue.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 566.20 points, adding 0.37 percent to Thursday’s 564.12 points. This was the fourth week in succession with gains for the benchmark, which went up 2.42 percent.

The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted by just 0.02 percent to end at 154.60 points, but mid-caps expanded 1.84 percent.

GEK Terna fared best among the blue chips, with a 1.94 percent rise, while National Bank gave up 2.97 percent.

This leaves just four sessions (as Monday is a holiday) until the rebalancing of indices with the downgrading of the local market to “advanced emerging” by FTSE, effective from March 21. This, along with the continued decline in state bond yields, points to a very interesting week to come, with high trading volumes and volatility.

In total 58 stocks recorded gains, 35 sustained losses and 22 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 47.6 million euros, down from Thursday’s 80.2 million.

In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange grew 1.30 percent to reach 69.36 points.