ATHEX: Sellers have a field day as PPC follows banks south

The Greek benchmark ended lower on Wednesday due to the big losses registered by bank stocks along with fellow blue chips Public Power Corporation and Jumbo, with aggressive sellers sending the day’s turnover above the 100-million-euro mark.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 666.84 points, shedding 2.10 percent from Tuesday’s 681.17 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 1.19 percent to 1,796.06 points.

The banks index slumped 8.78 percent, with Piraeus giving up a fifth of its value (down 20.73 percent), Eurobank plunging 14.69 percent, National falling 5.49 percent and Alpha shrinking 3.28 percent. PPC tumbled 6.67 percent and Jumbo conceded 4.50 percent, while GEK Terna rose 3.87 percent.

In total 19 stocks recorded gains, 74 suffered losses and 19 remained unchanged.

Turnover soared to 100.8 million euros from Tuesday’s 36.7 million.

In Nicosia the Cyprus Stock Exchange general index declined 0.33 percent to close at 71.81 percent.