MOSCOW, January 27 (Sputnik) — The Athens Stock Exchange took a big plunge Tuesday on investors’ fears over whether the new far-left government will reject Greece’s bailout program, AFP reports.
On Tuesday, immediately after the announcement of the new SYRIZA-Independent coalition cabinet, the benchmark Athex General Composite Share Price Index opened down 6.39 percent, reaching a low of 761 points. By 14:00 GMT it recovered to 776 points, or 4.59 percent lower than Monday’s close.
Bank shares have been the worst performers. The banking index slumped to a new 52-week low with losses of more than 15 percent.
The anti-austerity government, formed Sunday, plans to renegotiate Greece’s 240 billion euro ($269 billion) bailout agreement.
The EU has set the end of February as the deadline for Greece to implement more reforms in order to receive a seven billion euro tranche of financial aid from the European Union and the IMF.
Tsipras, who plans to renege on many of the austerity measures that Greece’s creditors insisted on, must decide whether to extend the deadline.
