Banks drag Athens bourse benchmark 2.51 pct lower

Bucking trends elsewhere in Europe, Greek equities came under strong pressure on Monday, following four straight winning sessions.

The slide was led by banks, which accounted for more than half of turnover.

Piraeus was down 2.11 percent to 1.39 euros, National shed 3.33 percent to 2.32 euros and Alpha gave up 2.46 percent to 0.595 euros.

OTE telecom declined 2.91 percent to 10 euros and Eurobank plunged 4.09 percent to 0.305 euros.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) equity benchmark closed 2.51 percent lower, at 1,086.50 points.

Turnover totaled 79.59 million euros.