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Title: Greece Crisis: Shares Slide And Euro Tumbles
Source:
SkyNews
URL Source: http://news.sky.com/story/1510027/g ... -shares-slide-and-euro-tumbles
Published: Jun 29, 2015
Author: Uncredited
Post Date: 2015-06-29 09:04:40 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 646
Growing fears of a Greek debt default and exit from the eurozone impact world markets as the country's financial crisis deepens. Greek banks are closed and limits have been placed on cash withdrawals. Asia was first to react to the growing prospect of Greek default and exit from the eurozone with stocks falling more than 3% in Hong Kong and Japan. European stock markets later dived on opening, with the CAC 40 in Paris and the German DAX both losing 4.3%. Banking stocks in Spain, Italy and Portugal bore the brunt of the sell-offs in their respective countries, as contagion to the problems in Greece emerged for the first time since 2011 - the height of the eurozone debt crisis. The FTSE 100 in London fell 2.2%. London-listed travel firms were particularly badly hit with TUI Group, behind the Thomson brand, falling more than 8% in early trading while Thomas Cook lost 6.8%. The falls reflected not only the uncertainty over Greece but also the impact of the terror attack in Tunisia which is believed to have left 30 Britons dead. The owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group, lost more than 4% of its value in the first hour. The euro reached an eight-year low against sterling in early Asia trading. The flight from the euro forced Switzerland's central bank to intervene "in order to stabilise the markets". While it did not specify the amount it had spent to halt the rise in the Swiss franc - a refuge currency for investors - it reiterated the bank had always said it was ready to intervene if necessary to keep down the cost of the country's exports. For the eurozone, the biggest concern was big spikes in borrowing costs for Spain and Italy on the bond markets. The flight to the safety of German bunds reflected worries among investors that those highly indebted countries could be next to feel pressure to leave the single currency. Greek yields rose sharply, with the rate on a 10-year bond topping 14%. The Athens stock market was closed on Monday and could remain shut all week ahead of a planned referendum on austerity this Sunday which is effectively being seen as an in/out referendum on the country's membership of the eurozone. Investors feared that capital controls imposed by Athens to staunch the flow of money out of Greek banks were likely to lead to a Greek exit. The measures were announced after the European Central Bank confirmed it would not increase the limit on emergency funding for Greek banks beyond the €89bn already agreed. The country's current bailout expires on Tuesday when Athens is due to make a €1.6bn debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund. It could yet default on that payment. 
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