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The Athens Stock Exchange in Greece reopened Monday after a five-week closure, with restrictions in place due to capital controls.
The benchmark ASE Index slumped a record 23 percent to 615.61 at 10:43 a.m. in Athens. Piraeus Bank SA and National Bank of Greece SA sank 30 percent.
The exchange suspension came as Greek stocks began enjoying some renewed optimism after losing 85 percent of their value since 2007. The ASE rebounded 17 percent from its almost three-year low in June through the halt. That trimmed its loss to 3.5 percent this year until June 26, the last day the exchange was open.
The Greek market came to a halt in June as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ended bailout talks with creditors by asking voters to decide in a referendum whether to accept the terms offered in exchange for emergency loans. The nation was forced to shut banks and impose capital controls.
The stock exchange remained closed, recording its longest halt since the 1970s, even after lenders reopened on July 20 with limited services, as Greek officials worked on rules to reopen the bourse with capital controls in place.
With bank withdrawals limited, Greek traders will only be able to buy stocks, bonds, derivatives and warrants with new money such as funds transferred from abroad, cash-only deposits, money earned from the future sale of shares or from existing investment account balances held at Greek brokerages, the Finance Ministry said in a decree on Friday.
Source: Bloomberg