ATHEX: Sting in the tail of Athens bourse session

After hovering around Friday’s closing level for most of the trading session on Monday, the stock benchmark at Athinon Avenue slipped below 920 points in the last hour-and-a-half, with blue chips such as banks experiencing selling action in the late afternoon.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 919.39 points, shedding 0.46 percent from Friday’s 923.63 points. The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 0.93 percent to 2,287.32 points, while the mid-cap index expanded 0.09 percent.

The banks index dropped 0.95 percent, with Eurobank losing 1.95 percent, Alpha giving up 1.44 percent and National easing 1.09 percent. Piraeus Bank jumped 2.99 percent thanks to rumors that a buyer has been found for the lender’s 31 percent stake in Marfin Investment Group.

Ellaktor fell 2.34 percent, Coca-Cola HBC conceded 2.13 percent and OPAP slid 2.11 percent, while Titan Cement grew 1.04 percent.

In total 42 stocks registered gains, 58 sustained losses and 30 remained unchanged.

Turnover was the lowest of the last five sessions, amounted to 58 million euros, down from last Friday’s 66.3 million.

In Nicosia the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange declined 0.51 percent to close at 66.58 points.