Two hundred months is a long time: It is 17 years minus four months. This is the period whose bourse benchmark losses were fully covered for the first time on Thursday at Athinon Avenue, as another day of price growth had the main index return to over 2,500 points and to levels unseen since November 2009, or when the debt crisis started kicking in. The universal move upward recorded in this session, despite the small drop in turnover, pointed to a structural shift toward higher ground.
The Euronext Athens (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,505.37 points, adding 0.97% to Wednesday’s 2,481.33 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 1.09%, ending at 6,357.35 points, though mid-caps contracted 0.31%.
The banks index improved 0.78%, as Bank of Cyprus earned 2.03%, Alpha grabbed 1.59%, Optima rose 1.56%, National advanced 0.78% and Piraeus collected 0.65%.
In total, 71 stocks reported gains, 43 sustained losses and 11 remained unchanged.
Turnover amounted to €300.8 million, up from Wednesday’s €334.7 million.
