Stocks fall after S&P decision
The Athens bourse sustained heavy losses yesterday, in line with steep drops on European exchanges, after Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s sovereign credit rating by one step, citing weakening finances. The Athens Exchange’s benchmark general index lost 5.47 percent to 1,743.47 points. In London, the FTSE 100 index slumped 4.97 percent, the CAC 40 index in Paris tumbled 4.56 percent and Frankfurt’s DAX lost 4.63 percent. National Bank fell almost 7 percent to 12.40 euros and peer Alpha gave up 7.98 percent to 6 euros. Babis Vovos International Construction slumped 28 percent to 7.1 euros on press reports that a court voted against lifting a construction suspension order for a building project in Votanikos. Turnover reached 133.2 million euros versus 120 million previously.
