Stocks suffer major tumble
The downgrade of Greece’s economy by Fitch inflicted a new major blow on the local bourse yesterday, with stocks suffering deep losses in their second-worst session of the year. The market lost some 5 billion euros of its capitalization. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed at 2,178.70 points yesterday, declining by 6.04 percent from Monday’s close at 2,318.64 points. The blue chip FTSE/ATHEX 20 index dropped 7.07 percent to end at 1,117.65 points. Since October 14, when the general index registered its year-high, it has tumbled 24.8 percent. Banks once again suffered major losses, with their sectoral index falling by 8.94 percent. Bank of Cyprus dropped 10.60 percent, followed by Marfin Popular Bank (down 9.96 percent), National Bank (9.95 percent) and Piraeus Bank (8.07 percent). Turnover amounted to 379.6 million euros.
