ATHEX: Local stock benchmark slumps to new 18-month low

The bank stock sell-off continued at the Athens Exchange (ATHEX) on Monday, as the decline in Italian and Greek bond prices and continuing uncertainty over the government’s plans for a special-purpose vehicle to guarantee local banks’ bad loans took the benchmark below 650 points for its lowest close since end-March 2017.

The ATHEX general index ended at 641.79 points, shedding 2.61 percent from Friday’s 658.97 points. The large-cap FTSE-25 index contracted 2.80 percent to 1,682.10 points.

The banks index slumped 6.45 percent, as Eurobank tumbled 11.58 percent, Piraeus crashed 10.95 percent, National fell 4.76 percent and Alpha dropped 3.17 percent.
In total 17 stocks notched up gains, 73 sustained losses and 30 closed unchanged.

Turnover amounted to 52.1 million euros, down from last Friday’s 74.8 million.

In Nicosia the Cyprus Stock Exchange general index declined 1.41 percent to close at 70.09 percent.