6th Jul 2015 06:00
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK equities are set to open lower Monday after the Greek people voted 'no' in the referendum over the weekend on whether or not to accept bailout proposals from Greece's creditors.
In the referendum Sunday, the 'no' vote received 61.3% of the vote, according to the Interior Ministry in Athens, with 'yes' finishing at 38.7%. The wide margin held steady throughout the counting process, after opinion polls had showed the vote too close to call. Athens said it was willing to resume talks with international creditors, and eurozone leaders were planning an emergency summit Tuesday to tackle the crisis.
In an address on national television, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the referendum was a mandate not against Europe but for "a sustainable solution," saying that renegotiating Greece's debt must now be on the table in renewed talks. He warned that there "are no easy solutions," but a "fair" conclusion could be reached by both sides. Tsipras said he would seek a meeting Monday of leaders from Greek political parties.
After the referendum result was clear, EU President Donald Tusk announced the summit meeting for the 19-member eurozone. Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said his group of eurozone finance ministers will meet Tuesday prior to the summit.
The rejection by the Greek people of the bailout terms saw the euro fall sharply against other major currencies on Sunday, hitting a low against the dollar of USD1.0968.
However, the euro has recovered somewhat early Monday, partially helped by the resignation of Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis. Varoufakis said in a blog post that he was made aware of a preference by some Eurogroup participants, and assorted 'partners', for his 'absence' from its meetings. He said the Prime Minister judged his absence to be potentially helpful to him in reaching an agreement.
IG says futures point the FTSE 100 to open heavily lower at 6,491.2. The index closed down 0.7% at 6,585.78 on Friday.
US stock markets will be trading again Monday after the Independence Day holiday on Friday.
In Asia Monday, the Japanese Nikkei is down 2.5%, the Hang Seng trades down 4.8% and the Shanghai Composite down 0.3%.
In the corporate calendar there is a trading update from housebuilder Bovis Homes, half-year results from education and IT services company RM, and June traffic statistics from easyJet.
In the economic calendar, German factory orders are at 0700 BST before eurozone Sentix investor confidence at 0930 BST. In the afternoon there is US Markit service and composite purchasing managers' index at 1445 BST, ISM non-manufacturing PMI at 1500 BST alongside labour market conditions index.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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