The Athens Stock Exchange ended marginally lower Wednesday, following some profit-taking in banks and selected blue chips.
The ASE General index closed at 2,623.91, down 0.18% on turnover of €315.55 million. Blue chips declined 0.30% and, among them, banks even more so (-1.19%). Mid-caps gained 0.90%.
Among blue chips, Bank of Cyprus and OTE declined more than 2%, while National Bank, Eurobank, CrediaBank, Lamda Development, Cenergy, Titan and ElvalHalcor lost over 1%. Aegean, GEK Terna and Coca-Cola HBC gained more than 2%.
Analysts said this mild correction is healthy and that banks are expected to drive the next round of gains, if global market sentiment allows it. International investment firms are raising bank stocks’ target prices.
