Stocks ended lower at the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday as investors took profits ahead of the weekend. The composite index of the market fell 2.68 pct to end at 745.67 points, aftering rising as much as 3.25 pct during the session. The index recorded net gains of 5.29 pct in the week, rising 9.59 pct so far this year. Turnover remained above the 100 million euros level, at 119.202 million euros.

The Big Cap index dropped 1.39 pct, the Mid Cap index fell 3.94 pct and the Small Cap index ended 1.65 pct down. Cyprus Bank (13.64 pct), Piraeus Bank (11.86 pct), Marfin Popular Bank (5.54 pct), Eurobank (5.53 pct) and Alpha Bank (3.54 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while OTE (6.49 pct), Ellaktor (6.16 pct), MIG (6.16 pct), PPC (5.03 pct) and OPAP (4.82 pct) were top losers.

Banks (3.40 pct) and Chemicals (0.16 pct) scored the biggest percentage gains of the day, while Telecoms (6.49 pct), Financial Services (6.11 pct) and Food (6.10 pct) were top losers.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 96 to 60 with another 31 issues unchanged. Tzirakian (29.72 pct), Bitros (27.18 pct) and Euromedia (22.08 pct) were top gainers, while Shelman (20 pct), Dionic (13.62 pct) and AXON Holdings (13.51 pct) were top losers.

Sector indices ended as follows:

Industrials: -1.65%
Commercial: -5.60%
Construction: -0.71%
Oil & Gas: -2.84%
Personal & Household: -0.83%
Raw Materials: -2.85%
Travel & Leisure: -4.78%
Technology: -2.91%
Telecoms: -6.49%
Banks: +3.40%
Food & Beverages: -6.10%
Health: -2.29%
Utilities: -4.77%
Chemicals: +0.16%
Financial Services: -6.11%

The stocks with the highest turnover were National Bank, Alpha Bank, Bank of Cyprus and EFG Eurobank Ergasias.

Selected shares from the FTSE/ASE-20 index closed in euros as follows:

Alpha Bank: 1.17
Public Power Corp (PPC): 3.59
HBC Coca Cola: 13.60
Hellenic Petroleum: 5.87
National Bank of Greece: 2.33
EFG Eurobank Ergasias: 0.80
OPAP: 7.31
OTE: 2.88
Bank of Piraeus: 0.50
Titan: 13.13

ADEX closing report

The March contract on the FTSE 20 index was trading at a discount of 0.45 pct in the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Friday, with turnover at 33.465 million euros. Volume on the Big Cap index totaled 9,460 contracts worth 14.798 million euros, with 25,735 open positions in the market. Volume in futures contracts on equities totaled 102,319 contracts worth 18.667 million euros, with investment interest focusing on National Bank’s contracts (43,813), followed by Cyprus Bank (6,121), OTE (1,443), PPC (950), OPAP (623), Piraeus Bank (7,295), Alpha Bank (35,853), Marfin Popular Bank (1,199), Mytilineos (1,116), Hellenic Postbank (1,106), ATEbank (333) and Hellenic Exchanges (308).

Bond Market

The yield spread between the 10-year Greek and German benchmark bonds widened further to 26.63 pct in the domestic electronic secondary bond market on Friday, from 26.22 pct on Thursday, with the Greek bond yielding 28.36 pct and the German Bund 1.38 pct. There was no turnover in the market.

In interbank markets, interest rates moved lower. The 12-month rate was 1.768 pct, the six-month rate 1.44 pct, the three-month 1.13 pct and the one-month rate 0.72 pct.

Foreign Exchange rates

U.S. dollar 1.334
Pound sterling 0.849
Danish kroner 7.545
Swedish kroner 9.03
Japanese yen 102.7
Swiss franc 1.225
Norwegian kroner 7.759
Canadian dollar 1.332
Australian dollar 1.251

FINANCIAL NEWS

**** Greece’s trade balance deficit fell a further 28.6 percentage points in November, containing the deficit by 27.1 percent in the 11-month period in 2011, according to provisional figures released by the independent Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Wednesday.

ELSTAT, in a report, said that the total value of imports-arrivals, excluding oil products, in November 2011 amounted to 2584.4 million euros (3493.0 million dollars) in comparison with 3110.7 million euros (4236.9 million dollars) in November 2010, recording a drop, in euros, of 16.9%.

The total value of exports-dispatches, excluding oil products, in November 2011 amounted to 1409.6 million euros (1916.4 million dollars) in comparison with 1465.0 million euros (2007.5 million dollars) in November 2010, recording a drop, in euros, of 3.8%.

The deficit of the trade balance, excluding oil products, in November 2011 amounted to 1174.8 million euros (1576.6 million dollars) in comparison with 1645.7 million euros (2229.4 million dollars) in November 2010, recording a drop, in euros, of 28.6%.

The total value of imports-arrivals, excluding oil products, for the 11-month period from January to November 2011 amounted to 29576.2 million euros (41239.6 million dollars) in comparison with 33821.2 million euros (44796.8 million dollars) for the corresponding period of the year 2010 recording a drop, in euros, of 12.6%.

The total value of exports-dispatches, excluding oil products, for the 11-month period from January to November 2011 amounted to 14538.3 million euros (20397.6 million dollars) in comparison with 13181.9 million euros (17540.9 million dollars) for the corresponding period of the year 2010, recording an increase, in euros, of 10.3%.

The deficit of the Trade Balance, excluding oil products, for the 11-month period from January to November 2011 amounted to 15037.9 million euros (20842.0 million dollars) in comparison with 20639.3 million euros (27255.9 million dollars) for the corresponding period of the year 2010, recording a drop, in euros, of 27.1%.

Greece’s state budget deficit totaled 21.726 billion euros in 2011, marginally up from a target envisioning a deficit of 21.712 billion euros, finance ministry figures showed on Tuesday.

The ministry said the budget deficit was 21.457 billion euros in 2010, noting that the figures represented the state budget shortfall and that the total fiscal data for the year, which will be used as the basis for calculating the general government’s deficit.

**** Greece’s Producer’s Price Index composite index (measuring both the domestic and external markets) in the industrial sector grew 5.7 pct in December, compared with the same month in 2010, after an increase of 7.6 pct recorded in the previous 12-month period, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Friday.

The statistics service, in a report, attributed this development to a 5.7 pct increase in the domestic market price index and a 5.7 pct rise in the external market price index.

The producer’s price index rose 0.2 pct in December from November, after an increase of 1.8 pct recorded in the same period in 2010. The average index in the January-December period rose 7.7 pct, up from an increase of 6.7 pct recorded in the previous 12-month period.

**** Income tax revenues accounted for 20 pct of total budget revenues in the third quarter of 2011, rising steadily from 18.3 pct in the first quarter and 18.8 pct in the second quarter of the same year, Hellenic Statistical Authority said on Friday.

The statistics service, in a report, said that revenues from taxes imposed on production and imports also raised their participation in total budget revenues from 30.7 pct in the first quarter to 31.3 pct in the second and 31.6 pct in the third quarter of 2011. The participation of payroll spending on total spending fell to 24.8 pct in the third quarter last year, from 25 pct in the first quarter, while the participation of spending on social benefits dropped to 40.7 pct in the third quarter form 44.1 pct in the second and 44.8 pct in the first quarter of the year.

**** Administrative Reform Minister Dimitris Reppas on Thursday appeared optimistic that a goal set to have the number of civil servants reduced by 150,000 in 2015 will be met, stressing that the labour reserve measure is not an option anymore.

In an interview with an Athens-based magazine, Reppas pointed out that the public sector’s operating cost has been considerably reduced in the past two years estimated to more than 2 billion euros. As regards the wage cost, public sector employees have witnessed wage cuts in three phases, the most recent one within the framework of the unified salary scale that leads to savings of up to 1.5 billion euros annually, he stressed.