Blue chips up on good sentiment
The smaller-than-expected impact of hurricane Gustav in the US Gulf Coast region, the drop in oil prices and the rise of the dollar pushed European stocks up, with the local bourse being no exception. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) closed at 3,341.41 points yesterday, a 2.22 percent increase from Monday. Interest focused on high capitalization stocks, with the blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index gaining 2.81 percent to 1,847.13 points. The biggest gains among blue chips were for the stocks of National Bank (up 5.91 percent), construction firm Ellaktor (5.09 percent), EFG Eurobank (3.19 percent) and Bank of Cyprus (3.04 percent). On the losing side were Coca-Cola HBC (down 0.48 percent), Motor Oil (0.46 percent) and OPAP (0.17 percent). Turnover reached 211.6 million euros.
