​Greek banks hit hard in rout of reopened Athens exchange

Shares at the Athens Stock Exchange fell 16.2 per cent at close on Monday, after shedding as much as 30 per cent when the bourse reopened after a five-week shutdown. Aris Messinis / AFP

The Athens stock exchange suffered a major rout yesterday on its first day open since the European Central Bank ended its emergency liquidity assistance programme, leading the Greek government to freeze trading on the exchange.

Shares fell 16.2 per cent, with the country’s banking sector hit especially badly, following three weeks of capital controls that resulted in customers being limited to withdrawals of €60 (Dh242) per day.

The National Bank of Greece shed 30 per cent of its value, the largest possible amount under stock exchange regulations – meaning the market capitalisation of its Turkish unit, Finansbank, now exceeds that of its Greek parent, according to Bloomberg. Piraeus Bank also fell 30 per cent, and Eurobank Ergasias dropped by 29.9 per cent.

“It’s a total disaster, it’s like hell here,” said Stavros Kallinos, head asset manager at Guardian Trust, a Greek investment firm, of the day’s trading.

The exchange had been closed since June 26.

Alexis Tsipras signed a deal with eurozone creditors for a third bailout in July, offering new cuts to the public sector in exchange for about €86 billion in new loans, in an attempt to keep the country’s banks operational. But with Greek politicians loudly opposing the deal, and economists arguing that it will only make the country’s economic situation worse, it is unlikely that the bailout means the end of the crisis that has wracked the euro zone and paralysed economic activity in Greece for six years.

Only Euroconsultants, an international consulting business, saw its stock price rise. There will be no shortage of work for management consultants, as Greece slashes its public sector over the next few years at its creditors’ behest.

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