ATHEX: Small gains for index at day’s end

Stocks went up, then down, and eventually - in the closing auctions - back up, during Thursday's session of the Greek bourse. Traders appeared reluctant to bring the benchmark closer to the 1,400-point level, as they obviously need a pretext for a solid recovery, following the recent decline.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,386.38 points, adding 0.19% to Wednesday's 1,383.69 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.21%, ending at 3,335.88 points.

The banks index advanced 0.34%, on Eurobank rising 1.21% and Alpha fetching 0.67%, though Piraeus parted with 0.46% and National slipped 0.34%.

Among the other blue chips, Autohellas soared 5.30%, Ellaktor earned 2.86%, Aegean Airlines collected 1.96% and Public Power Corporation improved 1.33%, while ElvalHalcor conceded 2.30%.

In total 61 stocks recorded gains, 45 suffered losses...