Return to normality will lift trading restrictions in Greek bourse, says head of regulator

Gazzetta team 4 Αυγούστου 2015 - 18:22

A return of the stock market to normal operations but most importantly developments in the Greek economy and the completion of an agreement with the country’s creditors, are the basic preconditions for lifting trading restrictions imposed on Greek investors, Κonstantinos Botopoulos, president of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters, during a news conference, Botopoulos said the aim was to keep these restrictions for short period of time and noted that market authorities along with the Bank of Greece will continue negotiations with the European Central Bank, which has the final say on the issue.

Botopoulos said that a ban on short selling on shares will be kept until the end of August unless there was a full return of the market to normality. Commenting on the trading of bank shares, he stressed that the market could not have reopened without trading on the four system banks’ shares, which account for a large turnover on a daily basis. “It would be like half the market operating,” he noted.

He said that a delay in reopening the market was attributed to the fact that banks remained closed and that almost a week of negotiations with the ECB was needed to reopen the market.

Athens Stock Exchange president Socrates Lazaridis, speaking to reporters, said that the second day of trading in the market showed that market conditions were returning to normal and noted that measures to control price volatility would not last for long. Commenting on “threats” made by foreign firms (FTSE, MSCI) over a delisting of the Greek market from international indices, Lazaridis said that September will be a crucial month for the market’s evaluation and noted that capital controls did not affect foreign investors, while he expected that liquidity levels would have return to previous levels again.

Lazaridis said that from a series of contacts he had with the managements of listed enterprises he was left with the impression that listed companies did not wished to leave the Greek market. The Athens Stock Exchange is organizing a roadshow in London in September 10-11.