Lenders lead Greek market downward

Once more, the Athens Stock Exchange was unable to hold on to early gains, with selling pressure on banks and other blue chips prevailing in the end.

Turnover remained weak and investor interest low. The general index closed at 1,425.36, down 0.50%, on turnover of €100 million. Blue chips dropped 0.76%, while mid-caps rose 0.04%.

Only five non-bank blue chips ended with gains: Coca-Cola HBC (3.74%), Cenergy (1.56%), Sarantis (1.39%), Aegean (0.64%) and Viohalco (0.17%). Five others, OTE, Ellaktor, OPAP, Jumbo and Titan dropped more than 1%.

Banks underperformed, with the index slipping 1.73%. Piraeus Bank dropped 1.96%, National Bank 1.85%, Eurobank 1.81% and Alpha Bank 1.60%.

Analyst Petros Steriotis noted that the level of turnover does not indicate a developed market. Investor interest in small and medium caps is practically nonexistent. For turnover...