Greek stocks end lower on bank share sell-off

The benchmark of the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) retreated on Thursday following a sell-off in banking shares.

The ATHEX general index ended at 754.65 points, down 0.45 percent from Wednesday’s 758.04 points, recording an intraday low of 753.89 points.

Turnover came to 57.023 million euros, of which 41.3 million concerned block trades of Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) shares.

The large-cap index gave up 0.57 percent while mid-caps increased 0.40 percent.

Blue chip gainers included HELEX (2.22 percent), Sarantis (1.09 percent) and Motor Oil (0.44), while losses were registered by National Bank (-3.28 percent), Eurobank (-2.16 percent), PPC (-1.83 percent) and Piraeus Bank (-1.43 percent).

Among market sectors, financial services and commerce rose 1.90 percent and 0.57 percent respectively, while banks and travel lost 1.94 percent and 0.79 percent respectively.