The Athens Stock Exchange succumbed to the imported pressures, with sellers dominating despite the positive start and driving the General Index below 1,440 points, continuing the problematic picture of the last few days.
And all this, while investor interest was characterized as strongly subdued, as daily trading volume remained below this year's average, far from the desired levels.
On the other hand, however, resilient first-quarter fundamentals and pending business deals did not allow a further slide, "keeping" intact the critical support of 1,420 points.
More specifically, during today's session, the General Index fell by 0.88% and ended near the daily low of 1,438.44 points, losing about 13 points compared to Wednesday's close (1,451.24 points).
The arc of the daily fluctuations was fixed at 19 points (from 1,438.24 to 1,457.35 points), with the turnover of the transactions ranging only at 68 million euros, of which 14.2 million euros were pre-agreed packages.
The banking index was at the center of the losses, ending -1.24% and 1,285 points, about 5% away from the year's highs (1,349 points).
National Bank shares tumbled -2.42% and 7.978 euros, Piraeus shares fell -1.57% and 3.76 euros, Eurobank shares closed -0.42% and 2.148 euros; and Alpha Bank shares were unchanged at 1.61 euros.
In the high-cap index (-0.85% and 3,497 points), Mytilineos shares folded -2.0% and 35.8 euros, with PPC, GEK Terna, Aegean and Cenergy shares following with a decline of 1.2% to 1.8%. Shares of Terna Energy, for its part, contracted to -0.8% and EUR18.7, pending deal announcements. Motor Oil, Viohalco and Helleniq Energy lost 0.8% each. On the flip side, OPAP shares gained 1.5% and approached EUR15. Sarantis shares rose 0.7%.
As for the mid-cap index (-0.98% and 2,288 points), Intracom Holdings' share stood out negatively at -4.6%, "falling" to EUR 3.3. Ideal, Profile, Intralot and Kri-Kri were down 1.3% to 3%, while PPA, EYATH, Lavipharm and Austriacard lost around 1%. On the other hand, Alumyl's shares widened to +2.3% and 2.8 euros, with Fourlis' shares recovering to 4 euros.
