ATHEX: Industrial sector leads stocks lower

Traders reverted to profit-taking at the Greek bourse on Thursday, following morning gains, with refineries and industrial companies being at the focus of sellers this time instead of banks, whose index has been in decline all week. Most of the losses were recorded in the closing auctions, with the benchmark ending the session at the day's low.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,209.05 points, shedding 0.79% from Wednesday's 1,218.65 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 0.77% to end at 2,923.64 points.

The banks index gave up 0.57%, as National dropped 1.48%, Alpha slid 0.94%, Eurobank stayed put and Piraeus advanced 0.43%.

Among the other blue chips, Viohalco parted with 3.62%, Motor Oil sank 3.15%, Autohellas lost 2.64%, Mytilineos fell 2.24% and Helleniq Energy eased 2.13%, while Quest Holdings expanded 1.53% and Jumbo added 1.38...