Markets greet snap poll announcement with enthusiasm

The Greek security markets have greeted with enthusiasm the European and regional election results on Sunday and the calling of a snap general election in late June, as on Monday morning stock prices are soaring in the Athens bourse and the Greek bond yields are diminishing rapidly.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras conceded defeat in Sunday’s elections and announced that after this coming Sunday and the second round of the local and regional elections, he will ask the President to dissolve Parliament and call an early election, originally planned for this fall.

The stock market at Athinon Avenue has reacted with a major increase for stocks, opening on Monday with a 5 percent jump for its benchmark. After just 40 minutes of trading the general index of Athens Exhange (ATHEX) reported gains of 4.74 percent, with a turnover of over 44 million euros, a remarkably high amount.

The yield of the benchmark 10-year government bond crumbled in the early hours of Monday, to 3.08 percentage points at 8.10 GMT (11.10 Greek time), down over 8.2 percent from the day’s opening at 3.36 percentage points.

Source:dw.com