Greek stock market nosedives

With losses of nearly 10% in just one day the Greek stock market has been hit badly the wave of panic selling affecting other markets around the world. Sofokleous (Athens answer to Wall Street) suffered losses of 9.7% on Friday, one of the worst in the exchange's history according to Skai news. The index had fallen by as much as 15% at one point during the day but managed to regain lost ground before the close of trading.

Local media sources are reporting the Athens stock exchange has lost over 130 billion euros in stock capitalisation since the beginning of the year (65% of it total value) and that 30 billion has been lost in the ten days alone.

Despite the present credit crunch Greek banks continue to advertise heavily consumer loans and credit card offers on most national channels.

Greece's already rickety state run pension schemes took another hit when it was revealed that the current credit crisis had resulted in losses of 5 billion euros.