Late buying leads Athens bourse to a positive close
Late-session buying helped pull the Athens bourse into positive territory yesterday, as firm banks offset weak telecoms despite two ratings downgrades on the National and Piraeus banks. Brokers said investors reacted to a sudden change at the helm of Greece’s largest company OTE Telecom but the stock rebounded after falling to its 17.00-euro support level. On Wednesday, OTE shareholders tapped former Shell executive Lefteris Antonakopoulos to lead the company with ousted chief Nikos Manassis pledging to support him. OTE Telecom trimmed earlier losses, ending off 0.81 percent at 17.20 euros. The benchmark general index firmed 0.08 percent to 2,386.33 points. The telecoms index shed 0.56 percent while banks gained 1.05 percent. The FTSE/ASE-20 index of blue chips gained 0.48 percent to 1,293.66 points. The FTSE/ASE-40 index shed 0.21 percent while small-caps eased 0.06 percent. Total turnover was 97.56 million euros on volume of 16.5 million shares. Losers beat winners 148 to 136 with 73 unchanged on 357 traded. (Reuters) Merrill Lynch downgrades NBG
