Equity markets around the world fell today after Greece overwhelmingly voted against conditions for a rescue package and following unprecedented measures in China to staunch recent massive losses in its stock markets.
Wall Street shares fell less than some had feared. The International Monetary Fund reassured investors by saying it was ready to help Greece if asked to do so. European shares fell around 2 percent, a relatively muted reaction to the Greek vote.
Beijing introduced emergency measures over the weekend following a 30 percent slide in its stock market since mid-June, raising investors’ concerns about the stability of the world’s second-biggest economy.
Wall Street investors took heart after Greece’s outspoken finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, stepped down and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said his government was ready to return to negotiations with creditors in a bid to open shuttered banks.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 46.53 points, or 0.26 percent, to end at 17,683.58. The S&P 500 lost 8.02 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,068.76, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 17.27 points, or 0.34 percent, to 4,991.94.
The euro zone blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index fell 2.22 percent. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 1.17 percent. The Athens stock market remained shut, but US-listed Greek shares slid. National Bank of Greece’s US shares closed down 12 percent in New York while the exchange-traded fund Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF fell 7.5 percent.
The euro was 0.54 percent weaker against the dollar, at $1.1053. The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback against six major currencies, edged up 0.16 percent after earlier hitting its highest point in a month.
Japan’s Nikkei 5 shares fell 1.4 percent and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.5 percent.Adding to the anxiety among investors, China’s stock market face a make-or-break week after a 30 percent plunge in the last three weeks forced officials to roll out an unprecedented series of steps at the weekend to prevent a full-blown market crash.
While early price actions have been choppy, dealers emphasized that markets were orderly with no signs of financial strain and expectations were high that the European Central Bank would step in early with a pledge of extra liquidity.
The Japanese government said it was ready to respond as needed in markets and was in close touch with other nations.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald