Athens’ main stock index has seen its biggest drop on record as it opened this morning after a five week closure.
The Athex saw a 22.87% fall within just a few minutes of trading, with the four biggest banks all down 30%, the maximum allowed.
The overall banking index .FTATBNK was also down to its 30 percent limit.
“Most of the selling pressure is seen in bank shares, where there is about 100 million euros worth of unexecuted selling orders,” said investment adviser Theodore Mouratidis told Reuters.
“There may be some more slide in store for (Tuesday) unless buyers emerge later in the session.”
The Greek markets have been shut since the government imposed capital controls whilst a bailout deal was being discussed.
Data released today shows that the manufacturing industry has also dropped to its lowest level on record, and Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for manufacturing fell to 30.2 points. Manufacturing accounts for approximately 10 percent of Greece’s economy.
The European Commission expects Greece to go back into recession this year, with the economy contracting by between 2% and 4%.
