Athens’s stock market reopened Monday with steep declines, after a five-week hiatus, reflecting concerns about its economy, even though the country and its creditors appear to have gain some grounds in recent bailout negotiations.
Athex Composite Index fell over than 20% within minutes of the market opening but pared down to over 16% losses at the end of trading session.
Greece has imposed capital controls on the banks earlier in the year, with depositors withdrawing billions of euros from their accounts.
Economic data are showing the impact the forced bank shutdown and the prolonged debt crisis has had on Greece’s economy, which had already slipped back into recession in the first quarter of the year.
Uncertainty over the country’s future relationship with the eurozone sent Greek manufacturing into a tailspin in July
According to a European Commission report released on Thursday, the economic sentiment collapsed in July, the first full month of capital controls,
But while the Economic Sentiment Indicator for Greece fell to 81.3 points from 90.7 in June, the measure for the eurozone as a whole rose to 104.0, its highest level since mid-2011.
Source: Wall Street Journal