Zee Media Bureau
Greece's stock market will reopen on Monday after a five-week shutdown caused by capital controls, but local investors will face restrictions aimed at stemming capital flight.
The Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) has been shut since June 29, when the government closed banks and imposed strict limits on withdrawals and foreign transfers to avert a run on deposits.
The Finance Ministry cleared the way for the exchange to resume operations by issuing a decree setting out new trading rules for local investors. There will be no restrictions on foreign investors.
Traders and exchange officials had hoped the exchange would be able to reopen this week after the European Central Bank gave Greece the green light to allow normal operations by foreign investors, with some limits for local investors.
Under the ECB-approved plan, local investors will be allowed to buy shares with existing cash holdings, but not to withdraw money from their Greek bank accounts to buy shares.
Some market participants had warned that unlimited trading for domestic investors would have posed a serious risk for lenders by accelerating capital outflows.
Local brokerages, however, criticised the curb on the use of local bank deposits for buying securities, saying it risked distorting the market.
With Agency Inputs
