Sellers again far outpaced buyers at the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) on Monday, with the general index falling under the - latest - "psychological barrier" of 650 points as of 14.30 (12.20 GMT).
The banking index was also under intense pressure, falling in earlier trading by 6 percent, with Piraeus Bank's share down by at least 10 percent; 9 percent for Eurobank; 5 percent down for National Bank and 3.5 percent for Alpha Bank.
The "bearish" first trading session of the week comes days after "Black Wednesday" last week for ATHEX-listed Greek lenders, with investors squeamish over the specter of NPEs and NPLs hanging over the formers' results, and details over a government initiative to create a "special purpose vehicle" in order to lob off a portion of banks' "bad debt" still unclear.
Continued turbulence in relations between the Italian government and the EU over the latter's draft budget also affected Greek bonds, with the 10-year paper up by 14 basis points to land at 4.652 percent between 2 and 3 p.m., meaning spreads touching 412 basis points.
