ATHEX: Bourse closes yet again at highest in nine years

A rollercoaster session at Athinon Avenue on Thursday saw constant shifts from black to red and back, before the benchmark of the market heeded the course of mid-caps to close with gains for yet another day, despite the decline of the banks index. That means the main index has registered yet another nine-year high, with turnover remaining at a particularly satisfactory level.

The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 1,258.17 points, adding 0.60% to Wednesday's 1,250.61 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index expanded 0.32% to end at 3,054.45 points, as mid-caps earned 1%.

The banks index contracted 0.30%, on Eurobank shedding 1.61% and National easing 0.36%, while Piraeus grabbed 1.37% and Alpha earned 0.26%. Terna Energy collected 2.68%, Mytilineos advanced 2.1% and Lamda Development augmented 2.07%, just as OTE telecom parted with 1%.

In total 70...