Banks drag index to lower levels
The Lehman Brothers figures issued early in the afternoon in the US caused a sharp decline in Greek bank stocks that dragged down most other blue chips on the local bourse. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 3,213.54 points yesterday, a drop of 1.92 percent from Tuesday. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index shrank by 2.51 percent to 1,774.01 points. The only bank to avoid registering losses yesterday was Hellenic Post Bank (up 1.61 percent), which rebounded after its all-time low on Tuesday. Titan (1.17 percent) and OTE (0.80 percent) also had gains. The day’s biggest losers among blue chips were Bank of Cyprus (down 5.66 percent), Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank (both 4.41 percent), EFG Eurobank (4.23 percent), Marfin Popular Bank (3.30 percent) and PPC (3.26 percent). Turnover reached 240.9 million euros.
