ATHEX: Moderate profit-taking at bourse

The moderate cashing-in of profits that followed last week's notable rise saw the main index of the Greek stock market come off its 13-year highs of last Friday and settle for contained losses upon closing on Monday. Banks reined in the decline, as did some non-banking blue chips, while turnover returned to its usual level after last week's jump.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,476.12 points, shedding 0.54% from Friday's 1,484.08 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 0.70%, ending at 3,573.25 points.

The banks index conceded 0.46%, as Alpha gave up 1.95%, National fell 0.37% and Eurobank parted with 0.14%, while Piraeus advanced 0.26%.

Among the other blue chips, Quest Holdings soared 5.24%, Ellaktor collected 2.60% and Helleniq Energy earned 2.14%, just as Sarantis declined 2.59% and GEK Terna diminished 1.54%.

In total 36...