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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Significant Drop in Athens Stock Exchange

Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) General Index closed at 948.21 points on Tuesday, a 5.70% drop, marking the ASE’s worst trading day since June 2013. The drop is estimated due to the negative climate created in the international market, as well as the concerns of Greek and foreign investors regarding the political developments in Greece. The investors’ main fear is the political uncertainty in Greece, in view of the election of the President of the Hellenic Republic, and also the results of latest polls showing leftist opposition party SYRIZA with a 6.5% lead over ruling New Democracy. Foreign investors avoid political risk and start exiting the Greek market fearing high losses. Not even the Goldman Sachs report, showing that Greek banks will only need one billion euros for their capital needs, can reverse the negative climate. Meanwhile, the drop of ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Germany has caused concerns for the development course of the Eurozone’s strongest economy. Wall Street Journal: Foreign Investors Selling Greek Bonds “Six months after Greece’s spectacular rehabilitation on international debt markets, investors are thinking twice,” said the US newspaper that argues that the yield of the 10-year Greek bond exceeded 7%. Wall Street Journal relates the increase in the yield of the Greek bond to the SYRIZA lead over New Democracy and Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ plan to leave the memorandum, which has caused concerns among EU leaders who prefer Greece to remain in the bailout program. “Some investors think Athens has made impressive strides, but continue to treat Greek bonds as a risky bet,” added the US newspaper.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com