Greek Stock Market Closes 16 Percent Lower After Finally …

Greek Stock Market Closes 16 Percent Lower After Finally …

The Athens stock exchange closed 16 percent lower on Monday after it reopened for the first time in five weeks, according to an unofficial tally.

Reuters reported that Greek banking stocks fell 30 percent, hitting the bourse’s daily volatility limit, with sellers lining up and no buyers. Earlier, the sector was being pummeled across the sector, including Alpha Bank, Attica Bank and Eurobank Ergasius, Bank of Piraeus and the National Bank of Greece. Similar losses were seen in other stocks outside of the banking industry as well too.

Ahead of the much-anticipated open, traders were bracing themselves for a day of “losses and volatility.”

Greek traders told Reuters on Sunday that they expected a torrid day of losses when the stock market opened. Takis Zamanis, chief trader at Beta Securities, told the news agency that “the possibility of seeing even a single share rise in tomorrow’s session is almost zero.”

Local investors will face restrictions that reflect the continuing capital controls on Greek banks that limit withdrawals to 60 euros a day. This means that domestic investors can only buy shares with fresh money from abroad or cash they have to hand, Reuters reported last week. They can also buy shares with money coming from security sales or dividends or cash remaining with their security firms.

Foreign investors may trade freely, however.

The reopen comes after a prolonged period of financial uncertainty in Greece. The stock market shut when capital controls were imposed on Greek banks at the end of June, when it looked increasingly likely that Greece was about to go bankrupt and leave the euro zone.

Related: Can the Greek Bailout Survive Without the IMF?

An eleventh-hour deal between the Greek government and lenders over a third bailout program for Greece worth 86 billion euros was agreed, however, pulling the country back from the brink of an unprecedented “Grexit” from the single currency union. Greek banks then reopened on July 20.

Although the finer details of a bailout are still being hammered out between lenders, the country is deemed to have stabilized enough for the stock market to reopen.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Greek Stock Market Closes 16 Percent Lower After Finally …

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