ATHEX gains, but trade is very thin

he Athens Stock Exchange finally aligned itself with the positive turn on the European markets Tuesday, as it rebounded from Monday’s significant losses to close 1.47% higher.

This rebound was achieved on very low turnover, which dropped below €30 million, a clear indication of investors’ reluctance to see an upside.

Three of the “big four” retail banks, Eurobank, National and Piraeus, outperformed the general index, as did construction company GEK Terna, energy firm PPC and bottler Coca-Cola HBC.

The general index, ATHEX, closed at 626.39 points, near its intraday high of 626.84. Turnover was €26.62 million on 17,136,162 traded shares.

Blue chips gained 1.60%, while mid-caps ended 0.65% higher.

Alpha Bank was the most heavily traded stock, with a total of 5,954,352 shares worth €3.005 billion changing hands.

Of the 115 traded stocks, 69 ended with gains, 26 with losses and 20 with no change.

The top gainers were GEK Terna (5%), PPC (3.78%) and Piraeus Bank (3.55%).

The leading losers were Terna Energy (-2.67%), Motor Oil (-1.59%) and Lamda Development (-0.18%).