ASE Records 8.6% Profits For Q1 2010
Athens General Index recorded cumulative profits of 8.6% for Q1 2010, while banks reported marginal gains of 0.39% for the same period. However, Greek market maintained a four-day downward streak on Thursday, as the period of financial results announcements completed.
Athens Stocks dropped further on Thursday, just two days after S&P downgraded Greece’s credit rating, without any recent positive news flow.
Its cumulative losses in four sessions settle at 5.36% for the General Index and 8.71% for banks.
Banks’ underperformance and weak trading activity remain the domestic market’s main characteristics for this week, which are attributed to the international uncertainty and the absence of any positive domestic catalyst, according to analysts.
They note that hopes for a substantial change should be placed on the European Union decisions expected in June, and any new initiatives regarding bank mergers, but primarily on the fast and successful implementation of Greek government’s privatization program.
"There is a wait-and-see attitude pending developments from abroad, such as from Ireland and Portugal," a sales trader told Dow Jones Newswires. Even so, the market has some support around the 1550 psychological level.
Across the board, the General Index ended at 1535.19 units, with losses of 1.5%, after a fluctuation into a margin of 39 units or 2.53%.
Approximately 23.99 million units worth €94.96 million were traded on Thursday, while a total amount of 113 shares posted losses, 50 rose and 120 remained unchanged.
After an even more intense fluctuation, bank ended at 1255.82, down 1.16%, with intraday losses of 1.82%, despite early gains of 2.02%. Only Marfin Popular Bank remained unchanged on Thursday, while ATEbank and Proton Bank fell by 4.05% and 3.95% respectively. Alpha Bank and Geniki Bank declined by 2.99% and 2.61% respectively.
Across FTSE20, Jumbo stood out with gains of 1.87%, while only Motor Oil and Titan followed on positive grounds, posting profits of 0.44% and 0.11%. OPAP fell by 4.97%, while Ellaktor and MIG declined by 3.7%.
(capital.gr)