Greek shares close higher, led up by Bank of Piraeus UPDATE

Greek shares close higher, led up by Bank of Piraeus UPDATE

	Published : Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:46 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updating with full report)

ATHENS (AFX) - Greek shares closed higher today, led up by Bank of Piraeus and outperforming European peers, dealers said.

The ASE general index closed 0.6 pct higher at 4,578.2 points with all major indices gaining.

The blue chip index closed up 0.5 pct at 2,465.7 points, while midcaps ended 0.7 pct higher at 5,624.5 points and small caps climbed 0.5 pct to 873.9 points.

Advancers outnumbered decliners 140 to 105, with 73 unchanged in below average trading volume of around 310 mln eur.

Bank of Piraeus jumped 2.6 pct to 25.30 after receiving Goldman Sachs's praise in its European banking report and on news it raised 750 mln eur through the issuance of a three-year floating rate note which was oversubscribed 1.8 times.

Greek electricity utility Public Power Corp (PPC) sank 0.7 pct to 19.96 eur on AFX News consensus forecasts which see 2006 full-year group net profits falling 48.4 pct year-on-year to 70 mln eur -- it is due to announce its result on March 27.

Lottery operator OPAP closed 0.7 pct higher at 28.88 eur ahead of full-year results that were slightly better than expected.

Construction group Michaniki spiked 6.7 pct to 5.44 eur after broker Citigroup hiked its target price to 6.0 from 5.25 eur whilst keeping the stock at 'buy' citing better-than-expected full-year results

Emporiki Bank dipped 1.8 pct to 21.04 eur and luxury goods retailer Folli Follie closed 1.6 pct lower at 25.20 eur, both on profit taking.

Alpha Bank rose 0.6 pct to 22.54 eur, recovering from losses earlier in the day after ING cut its rating to 'hold' and said it is lagging behind its outperforming peers.

Packaging company MJ Maillis also rebounded from early losses to trade 1.3 pct higher at 2.34 eur after broker P&K Securities cut its target price by 12.8 pct to 2.5 eur, citing weak full-year results and persistent pressures in operating margins.

Source: Euro2day.gr NewsWire

cheryl@euro2day.gr

cn/tw

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