Greek stocks keep falling to historic lows amid political uncertainty

After a "Black Monday" for the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), Greek stocks kept falling to historic lows on Tuesday amid refueled political uncertainty in the country, as local analysts have stressed.

The general index dropped by 2.89 percent on Tuesday to 450.83 points and bank shares were again the hardest hit.

On Monday the benchmark index had eventually shrank by 7.87 percent from the previous session last Friday closing at 464.23 points, a record low since December 29, 1989, as local traders underlined.

During Tuesday's session around noon the index had tumbled to 439.08 points.

So far this year the Athens bourse has declined by 26 percent, according to official ASE statistics. About seven billion euros of the total twelve billion euros of wiped out value of shares are bank shares.

Local experts and media linked the dramatic fall to the wider negative atmosphere in European and world markets these days, but above all to the renewed political uncertainty.

The delays regarding the first assessment of Greece's third bailout in combination with increasing social tensions over the new round of austerity and reform measures have fueled scenarios of new general elections.

All these factors have added to the pressure on the market and, in particular, foreign investors who helped in the recent recapitalization of Greek banks and saw their investments' value being wiped out again are leaving, Beta Securities head trader Takis Zamanis explained. Endit