Stocks end slightly lower

Stocks ended slightly lower in the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, extending a declining trend for the eighth consecutive session as a recovery effort failed to materialise. The market remains nervous after Fitch downgraded the country to junk category. The composite index of the market fell 0.18 pct to end at 1,188.19 points with turnover remaining a low 74.248 million euros.
The Big Cap index eased 0.50 pct, the Mid Cap index ended 0.36 pct lower and the Small Cap index ended 0.45 pct down. PPC (3.89 pct), Viohalco (1.19 pct) and National Bank (1.16 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while Marfin Popular Bank (6.0 pct), Cyprus (4.94 pct) and Motor Oil (4.39 pct) were top losers.
The Financial Services (3.5 pct), Industrial Products (0.64 pct) and Technology (0.48 pct) scored gains, while Health (3.77 pct), Chemicals (2.77 pct) and financial Services (2.63 pct) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day.
Broadly, decliners led advancers by 80 to 48 with another 49 issues unchanged. G.E. Demetriou (16.67 pct), MIG Real Estate (10 pct) and Pegasus (9.09 pct) were top gainers, while TBank (20 pct), Unibios (16.67 pct) and Imperio (15.79 pct) were top losers.

Sector indices ended as follows:
Insurance: Unchanged
Industrials: +0.64%
Commercial: -0.66%
Construction: -0.36%
Media: Unchenged
Oil & Gas: -1.82%
Personal & Household: -0.54%
Raw Materials: -0.88%
Travel & Leisure: +0.44%
Technology: +0.48%
Telecoms: -0.17%
Banks: -1.13%
Food & Beverages: -0.03%
Health: -3.77%
Utilities: +3.50%
Chemicals: -2.77%
Financial Services: -2.63%

The stocks with the highest turnover were National Bank, Coca Cola 3E, Eurobank and Alpha Bank.

Selected shares from the FTSE/ASE-20 index closed in euros as follows:

Alpha Bank: 2.97
Public Power Corp (PPC): 9.09
HBC Coca Cola: 18.65
Hellenic Petroleum: 6.20
National Bank of Greece: 4.36
EFG Eurobank Ergasias: 2.74
OPAP: 10.85
OTE: 5.83
Bank of Piraeus: 0.88
Titan: 15.90