Jitters hit the bourse in Athens
The first week after Greece’s decision to accept the European Union and International Monetary Fund-backed support mechanism saw the local bourse plummet amid investor uncertainty and street violence in Greek cities. The Athens Exchange (ATHEX) general index closed the week last Friday at 1,630.47 points, recording a considerable 12.81 percent drop from the previous week’s close of 1,869.99 points. This was the biggest weekly decline in the last 20 months. Since the beginning of the year, the index has declined by 25.76 percent. The week’s aggressive selling was boosted by worries that the new government measures will have a negative impact on enterprises, not to mention the poor sentiment on global markets toward the end of the week. Blue chips suffered the heaviest losses, with the FTSE/ATHEX 20 index falling 13.52 percent, while the FTSE/ATHEX 40 mid-cap index lost 12.47 percent and the FTSE/ATHEX 80 small-cap index dropped by 8.30 percent. Weekly turnover added up to 959.06 million euros, for an average daily amount of 191.8 million euros, down from the previous week’s 315.4 million euros.
