Bourse index recovers some lost ground

Non-banking chips led the local stock index to a significant recovery on Wednesday before the first vote for a new president took place, with traders buying into the optimistic scenario from the government camp that “it will be alright on the night” of the third vote on December 29. However, the less-than-satisfactory result of Wednesday evening’s vote is likely to dampen that rosy outlook on Thursday.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed on Wednesday at 862.06 points, rising 3.33 percent from Tuesday’s 834.24 points. The large-cap FTSE/ATHEX 25 index expanded 3.24 percent to end at 276.57 points, as small-caps gave up 0.88 percent.

All but two blue chips headed north, led by EYDAP (up 8.52 percent), Ellaktor (7.73 percent), Public Power Corporation (6.09 percent) and Jumbo (5.80 percent). Motor Oil dropped 1.85 percent and Aegean Airlines declined 1.65 percent.

On its second day of trading after returning to bourse action, Bank of Cyprus saw its stock recover some of the ground lost on Tuesday, adding 3.39 percent.

In total 76 stocks secured gains, 38 sustained losses and 14 remained unchanged.

Turnover came to 90.2 million euros, up from Tuesday’s 88.8 million.