Local bourse keeps bleeding

Greek stocks continued to slide on Tuesday as the benchmark edged mighty close to the psychological threshold of 1,000 points, registering a new 12-month low.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 1,012.05 points, shedding 2.26 percent from Monday’s closing of 1,035.43 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 index contracted 1.29 percent, ending at 337.37 points.

Foreign fund managers appear convinced that Greece will remain in a prolonged election period for the next five months at least, and therefore are in no hurry to return to the local market for the time being.

All but three blue chips posted a decline, led by Public Power Corporation (down 5.87 percent), National Bank (4.57 percent) and Folli Follie (4.12 percent). Bucking the trend were Eurobank Properties (up 1.57 percent) and Coca-Cola HBC (1.19 percent). Motor Oil closed without a change.

In total 31 stocks registered gains, 92 suffered losses and 16 remained unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 107.1 million euros, up from Monday’s 51.9 million.