Bloodbath as Greek stock market reopens

The Athens stock exchange was trading around 17 percent lower around midday on Monday, after falling nearly 23 percent after it reopened for the first time in five weeks.

Greek banking stocks were the worst hit with Alpha Bank, Attica Bank and Eurobank Ergasius, Bank of Piraeus and the National Bank of Greece were all trading at or around 30 percent lower – the daily volatility limit. Similar losses were seen in other stocks outside of the banking industry too.

There was further bad news for the Greek economy earlier, with flash manufacturing PMI figures for July down to 30.2 the lowest reading since Markit began compiling data in 1999.

To make matters worse, an economic sentiment index for Greece hit its lowest level since October 2012 in July with capital controls and political uncertainty weighing on sentiment, according to the IOBE think tank that conducted the survey.

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

[source]