ASE's never-ending plummet

Athens continues to ‘sink’ because of bank shares, which are now conveying the most disturbing of messages. The valuations of banks show that they are taking their entry to the Emergency Liquidity Fund for granted, according to a knowledgeable broker.

On the other hand, in light of the responses on the bonds consultation, doubtful debts have also started to have meaning; for many people this might be greater than the bonds losses, which are also manageable to some extent.

Additionally, the bill presented today at the cabinet meeting may include a provision under which when any bank  receives money from the Fund, then the Fund itself may acquire stocks in said bank. If this order is confirmed then everything will change dramatically in the banking sector since it is a direct nationalization.

Thus on Wednesday, during a day which was positive for all international exchanges, Athens showed itself as being cut off, as is already happening in the bonds market. The spread has exceeded 1500 units due to the S&P notices, which anticipated Greek bankruptcy.

So, after this morning’s upwards movement, Athens returned to the already known excruciating pressures. The general index ended up at 892.96 points, down by 1.99%, while intraday it even reached 881 units.

The National Bank lost 2.17% and ended up at 3.16 euros.

7.17% selloff for Alpha Bank, 9.7% for TT and 3.94% for Eurobank.

A drop of 1.185% for OPAP, 1.94% for Mytilineos, 2.5% for OTE and 2.4% for Coca-Cola.

A positive counterweight to the fall was the rise of Folli-Follie by 5.7%, Marfin Popular by 3.5%, Cyprus Bank by 2.68% and Jumbo by 1.07%.

Total transactions reached 64.5 million euros.

At the same time European stock markets were rising, while Wall Street was dominated by mixed trends.