ATHEX: Patchy day for stocks after major advance

After a mixed session on Wednesday with more gainers than losers but a slight drop for the main indexes, the benchmark at the Greek bourse came off Tuesday's 13-month high to settle for a mere two-point reduction by the end of the day, on reduced turnover too, as traders took a breather.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 843.73 points, shedding 0.26 percent from Tuesday's 845.95 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 0.36 percent to end at 2,152.22 points, while the mid-cap index advanced 0.79 percent.

The banks index was virtually unchanged, adding just 0.01 percent, as Eurobank earned 2.02 percent, Piraeus slipped 0.20 percent, National eased 0.41 percent and Alpha dropped 1.46 percent.

Viohalco jumped 4.87 percent, while Motor Oil fell 1.68 percent, both Hellenic Exchanges and Jumbo shrank 1.65 percent and OPAP gave up 1.51 percent....