Bank decline inflicts greater losses on local bourse index

Bank stocks continued to slide on Tuesday, dragging the rest of the local bourse down with them, as their index has now seen all of the gains registered since the start of the year wiped out. Whether the benchmark manages to post a positive or negative result for the first half of 2014 now hinges on this week’s remaining sessions.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,243.72 points, dropping 2.10 percent from Monday’s 1,270.38 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 25 contracted by 2.26 percent to close at 401.55 points.

All but one blue chip headed south. Folli Follie fell 7.46 percent, Alpha Bank gave up 4.79 percent, Metka lost 3.90 percent and Terna Energy shrank 3.18 percent. Ellaktor was the only non-mover.

In total 41 stocks went up, 83 took losses and 21 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 121.1 million euros, up from Monday’s 103.4 million.