Greek shares close sharply lower on negative intl market sentiment UPDATE

Greek shares close sharply lower on negative intl market sentiment UPDATE

	Published : Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:08 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Update with full closing market report)

ATHENS (Thomson Financial) - Greek shares closed sharply lower, led down by blue chip profit taking, as international market sentiment soured on Wall Street's lower opening and several worse-than-expected third-quarter earnings reports.

The ASE general index closed 1.1 pct lower at 5.166.6 and the blue chip index fell 1.2 pct to 2,735.5. The mid cap index lost 0.9 pct to 6,712.7 and small caps closed 1.1 pct lower at 1,133.7.

Decliners outnumbered advancers 195 to 59 while 71 were unchanged in moderate trading volume of roughly 470 mln eur.

Construction holding group Hellenic Technodomiki lost 2 pct to 10.48 eur on profit taking after rising sharply yesterday on a favourable broker report from Eurobank Securities.

Marfin Popular Bank reversed earlier gains to close 1.3 pct lower at 10.34 eur on account of the negative market sentiment and renewed uncertainty in the banking sector on the depth of the credit crunch.

Electricity utility Public Power Corp (PPC) was of the few blue chip gainers and grew 0.5 pct to 27.78 eur after announcing it signed the final sale agreement for its 49.99 pct stake of alternative telecom and ISP Tellas to Wind Hellas for 175 mln eur. In other news on PPC, Euroxx Securities initiated coverage of the utility company with an equal-weight rating and a 27 eur target price.

Titan Cement also shed its earlier gains and fell 0.3 pct to 35.32 eur. Shares were led higher earlier in the session following its announcement that Cypriot holding company, Mitica, has acquired a 5.02 pct stake in the cement company, which also confirmed a Thomson Financial News report yesterday.

Bank of Cyprus closed 1.4 pct lower at 13.48 eur on profit taking after growing yesterday on Deutsche Bank's broker report where it said recent pressure on shares presents a good buying opportunity.

Bottler Coca-Cola HBC dropped 2.2 pct to 40.1 pct as investors cashed in on their gains after it spiked 2.4 pct in trade on Wednesday.

Source: Euro2day.gr Newswire

cheryl.novak@thomson.com

cn/lht

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