S&P warning on eurozone about Greece

The Greek stock market has plummeted 5.9 percent after Standard & Poor's credit rating agency warned that the country has a one-in-three chance of leaving the eurozone.

The main ATHEX (Athens Stock Exchange) index fell by 6.1 percent to 471.35 points just an hour before the official close time at 5:20 pm (1420 GMT) on Tuesday. 

This comes after Standard & Poor's issued a statement on Monday warning of “at least a one-in-three chance” that the country will leave the eurozone after the June 17 elections. 

Greece’s likely rejection of the austerity measures and reforms in return for EU-IMF bailouts, following the mid-June parliamentary elections, would lead to the “suspension of external financial support,” said the international agency. 

It added that Greece’s proposed circumstances would seriously damage its economy and most likely lead to another Greek sovereign default. 

However, the agency said the Greek exit from the eurozone would not affect other weaker eurozone states. 

Earlier this week, rating agency Moody's lowered Greece’s domestic rating ceiling due to escalating concerns over the debt-ridden country’s exit from the eurozone. 

Greece is the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis. It is headed for the second parliamentary elections, expected on June 17, following a political impasse since the May 6 elections when no party gained enough seats in the elections. 

There are worries that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession. 

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