Economy of Greece

Following the announcement of the European Central Bank’s decision on Wednesday to restrict the eligibility of Greek bonds used as collateral, heavy losses were recorded at the Athens Stock Exchange at 11.00 on Thursday.

More specifically, the basic share price index was down 5.72%, standing at 799.56 points and turnover was at 25.055 million euros.

Volatility was the name of the game for another day on the Athens bourse, which closed on Wednesday with gains of less than 1 percent for the benchmark having ranged from gains of 2.77 percent to losses of 2.63 percent, while the turnover level clearly indicated that the Greek market is back on the radar of investors, for better or worse.

Following Greek government's decision to abandon its request for a "haircut", the markets took a breather.

Also opens the way for meetings between the Greek Minister of Finance and the ECB President as well as with his German counterpart.

The decision led to a rally in the Greek stock market and crated declines in yields on Greek bonds.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis efforts to rally support for Greece have met with market euphoria shown on the Athens Stock Exchange. Even though Germany has yet to officially agree to Varoufakis’ proposals concerning the linkage of Greek debt with growth, the markets have shown positivity with hefty gains.

Nervousness prevailed on the Greek stock market on Wednesday ahead of Thursday?s crucial European Central Bank meeting, influenced also by increasing demands from election favorite SYRIZA candidates for an extension to the country?s bailout program. Trading volume remained below 100 million euros for a tenth successive session.

Revenues from the export of Greek products and services will grow between 5 and 5.5 percent this year according to forecasts by international organizations, after 2014 has closed with an estimated decline of 2-2.5 percent, Christina Sakellaridi, the president of the Association of Panhellenic Exporters, said on Tuesday.

Non-banking blue chips turned their backs on the turmoil that continued to rock local lenders on Monday, although the significant gains recorded by the benchmark came on a day with very low turnover.

Athens-listed company Yalco Constantinou SA announced the expansion of its operations in Cyprus.

The distributor of household goods and hotel equipment has created a wholly owned subsidiary with 5,000 euros capital.

[Reuters]

Pressure on banks ? stemming from news that Greek lenders are resorting to emergency liquidity assistance from the Bank of Greece ? and across the market ? from statements by candidates in next weekend?s election ? led the benchmark back below the 800-point mark on increased turnover on Friday.