Stocks drop on profit taking

Stocks ended lower at the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday as investors took profits after a three-week rally of prices. The composite index of the market fell 0.92 pct to end at 1,534.38 points, with turnover at 97.985 million euros.

The Big Cap index fell 1.22 pct, the Mid Cap index ended 0.38 pct down and the Small Cap index eased 0.09 pct. Marfin Popular Bank (1.85 pct), Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling (1.34 pct), Ellaktor (1.10 pct) and Jumbo (0.38 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while Hellenic Postbank (3.41 pct), Piraeus Bank (3.07 pct), MIG (2.86 pct) and Alpha Bank (2.35 pct) were major losers.

The Media (3.15 pct) and Commerce (1.78 pct) sectors scored gains, while Financial Services (2.99 pct), Travel (2.20 pct) and Raw Materials (2.12 pct) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 105 to 68 with another 45 issues unchanged. Centric Multimedia (18.92 pct), Vioter (16.67 pct), Avenir (13.04 pct) were top gainers, while Unibios (12.5 pct), Euroholdings (11.11 pct) and FHL Mermeren (9.73 pct) were top losers.

Sector indices ended as follows:
Insurance:	-1.12%
Industrials:	-0.36%
Commercial:	+1.78%
Construction:	+0.03%
Media:	+3.15%
Oil & Gas:	-0.57%
Personal & Household:	+0.56%
Raw Materials:	-2.12
Travel & Leisure:	-2.20%
Technology:	-0.64%
Telecoms:	-0.69%
Banks:	-1.70%
Food & Beverages:	+1.39%
Health:	-0.84%
Utilities:	-1.31%
Chemicals:	-0.93%
Financial Services:	-2.99%

The stocks with the highest turnover were National Bank, Bank of Piraeus , Alpha Bank and OPAP.

Selected shares from the FTSE/ASE-20 index closed in euros as follows:
Alpha Bank:	4.15
ATEbank:	0.75
Public Power Corp (PPC):	11.42
HBC Coca Cola:	21.20
Hellenic Petroleum:	6.43
National Bank of Greece:	6.85
EFG Eurobank Ergasias:	4.20
OPAP:	13.66
OTE:	7.19
Bank of Piraeus:	1.58
Titan:	16.00