The Greek debt drama is playing out another act as traders grow concerned over the country’s ability to finance itself at sustainable rates, pushing down Greece’s stock markets and country-specific exchange traded fund to their lowest in a year.
The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF (NYSEArca: GREK) fell 4.7% Tuesday. GREK is down 22.9% year-to-date.
Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling pointed out that ministers are watching Greece “with a certain skepticism and concern” amid concerns that the country won’t be able to finance its debt as Greek 10-year government yields rose above 7% for the first time since March, reports Lukanyo Mnyanda for Bloomberg.
The yields on 10-year Greek debt touched 7.09% earlier in the day, their highest since March 21. With the Eurozone economy faltering, investors are monitoring for any perceived weakness in the union’s periphery.
“We are starting to approach yield levels where doubts are starting” about Greece’s ability to finance itself, Christian Lenk, a fixed-income analyst at DZ Bank AG, said in the article.“There is a lot of uncertainty in the market and that is helping to increase pressure on Greek bonds.”
While Greek bond rates have increased, it is still more than 2 percentage points off from its 2014 high of 9.33% on January 17.
Fueling the uncertainty in the market, Greece is seeking to opt out of the bailout program early and end the unpopular austerity measures tied with the bailout money.
Additionally, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the opposition Syriza party, is trying to force a snap election early 2015 on the platform for a significant writedown on Greece’s debt. Some observers warn that if the Syriza party won, the country could even leave the euro, writes Mike Bird for Business Insider. The anti-austerity party Syriza is currently 6.5% ahead of the governing conservative party in opinion polls.
Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF
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Max Chen contributed to this article.