ATHEX: Slight uptick for local stocks

During the course of Tuesday's trading session in Athens it appeared that Greek stocks might stage a recovery after the benchmark's downward spiral of recent days, but the rise proved unsustainable as the main index closed with just a fraction of the gains it had posted earlier in the day and trading volume left a lot to be desired.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index ended at 720.18 points, adding 0.38 percent to Monday's seven-month low of 717.47 points. The large-cap FTSE-26 index grew 0.23 percent to close at 1,878.64 points.

The banks index recovered just 0.64 percent after hitting a 12-month low the day before. Alpha advanced 2.08 percent, Attica was up 2 percent, Piraeus rose 1.87 percent, National stayed put and Eurobank conceded 2.06 percent.

Public Power Corporation outperformed, up 2.58 percent, and Sarantis grew 2.51 after its inclusion in the...