Italian stocks fall sharply after Monti resignation newsDecember 10, 2012 - 15:21 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Italian stocks have fallen sharply, reacting to news that Prime Minister Mario Monti plans to resign and former premier Silvio Berlusconi is to run for office again, BBC News reported. The main Italian stock index fell 3.3%. Other indexes throughout Europe were also lower, with banks the worst hit among shares. Monti became the leader of a technocrat government in 2011 after investors became worried about Italy's economic health. He replaced Berlusconi after the Italian 10-year bond yield reached a record of 7.48% in November 2011, bringing about Berlusconi's departure. Since then, Italy's yields have dropped and the focus has shifted to Spain, which has taken a bailout for its banks, and back to Greece. However, on Monday, Italy's 10-year bond yield jumped more 0.2 percentage points to 4.79%. Among individual shares in Italy, banks were the hardest hit. Italy's biggest, Unicredit, fell 4.9%. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena fell 6% and Banca Popolare di Milano declined 6%. Across banks in Europe, Germany's Commerzbank fell 2.2% and France's BNP Paribas dropped 1.4%. In Spain, banks such as Santander, Bankia and BBVA all turned lower. "Monti is the one who managed to stabilize Italy and stop the contagion from Greece," said David Thebault, a trader at Global Equities. "His surprise resignation brings back the political risk in the equation, something we had forgotten about." Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |