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Athex suffers losses ahead of Eurogroup

09/03/2015 15:06
The Athens Stock Exchange is in the red on Monday few hours before the critical Eurogroup meeting, as it seems that there will be no positive development in the disbursement of the next tranche to Greece.

The banking stocks are still in the eye of the storm due to a ceaseless selling from big investment portfolios abroad.

The Athex general index is currently recording losses of 3,77% to 818.23 points while FTSE is at 241.90 points and at -4.4%.

The banking stocks are losing 7.52%.

National Bank is down 7.87%, Alpha Bank falls 7.10%, Eurobank declines 7.26% and Piraeus Bank slumps 7.82%.

The Bank of Cyprus stock in the CSE drops 2.05% to €0.191 while in Athens it is at €0.192 and at -1.54%.

The Eurogroup is expected to discuss the seven reforms sent by the Greek government in order to receive the last tranche of the program.

Brussels expressed discontent about yesterday’s statements by Yanis Varoufakis on a possibility to turn to polls.

The finance minister’s “bomb” caused political uproar in Greece and a stir in Europe, especially Germany.

According to analysts and newspaper reports, the Germans were not positive to this message and talk about either a blackmail or a Greek trick.

Berlin’s "blockade" comes after the cold treatment of the proposals sent by the Greek government on Friday, especially that of the 'tax-persecutors', who will be tourists, students or housewives.

Headlines in Germany show the prevailing climate and the difficulties of the Greek mission at today's meeting.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that "The Greeks don’t know what they are doing”. "The country is in total chaos. No money. Wages are paid by force and Yanis Varoufakis talks about a referendum. Is it that perhaps the "Graccident" (Greek accident) comes closer and closer?”

Apart from Greece, Eurogroup is expected to discuss the Cypriot program with Finance Minister Harris Georgiades stressing that Cyprus is on track regarding the foreclosures law and the insolvency framework.

The expectations focus on the completion of the assessment of Cyprus by the troika in April and the island’s participation in the ECB's quantitative easing program that starts today.

Expectations for the participation of Cyprus in the ECB program push the yield on the ten-year Cypriot bond down to a four-year low, to 4.1% from 4.2% on Friday and 4.6% on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the CSE general index is recording losses of 0.7% to 79.77 points while FTSE is at 47.62 points and at +0.25%.