Rebalancing leads to jump in turnover

The upcoming rebalancing of the MSCI Greek stock indexes and profit taking after five consecutive days of gains led to losses at Athinon Avenue, with a huge daily turnover. Notably 70% of trading volume took placing during the closing auctions. The benchmark of the Athens stock market ended May with a monthly advance of 3.87%, though banks lost 2.94%.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 652.58 points, shedding 1.87% from Thursday’s 665.04 points. On a weekly basis it expanded 7.12%.

The large-cap FTSE 25 index contracted 2.41% to 1,571.48 points and the banks index slumped 7.94%.

Eurobank dropped 10.59%, Alpha Bank and Titan Cement lost 8.87%, National Bank fell 7%, Aegean Air declined 6.14% and OPAP shrank 5.30%. Public Power Corporation grew 3.68%, Motor Oil rose 1.69% and Lamda Development increased 1.46%.

In total 38 stocks posted gains, 59 endured losses and 18 remained unchanged. Turnover came to 390 million euros, up from Thursday’s €95.3 million.

In Nicosia, the general index of the Cyprus Stock Exchange improved 0.74% to close at 47.88 points.