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The Athens stock exchange registered its biggest lost for 2009 after closing the week with 6.21% fall on Thursday. The Spread index passed the record 200 points and Greece’s credit risk was evaluated to be 222 points or higher than the one of Columbia and Panama. “The negative adjustment on the market, the instability in Europe and the fear of continuous increase on the Spread index of Greek government bonds, will reduce the profits of commercial banks and will reflect negatively on the banking market,” said for Reuters the financial analyst Manos Hadjidakis.

Another reason for the reported fall of the market was the announcement by Dubai World that the biggest investment fund in the Emirates is freezing paying off its debts to foreign creditors for six months. The company turned to the Emirates government and asked for a six month postponement for paying its credit obligations due to the price fall of real estate and the reported losses of about €60 billion. On the Greek market Dubai Investment Group owns 20% of Marfin Investment Group (MIG) and 17% of Marfin Popular Bank. The shares of both companies noted a great fall on Thursday – with about 3 points – after Dubai World announced the six month freeze on loan payment of the Dubai giant.

In an official press conference MIG representatives said: “We do not have common investments and we do not cooperate on company level either with the state of Dubai or with companies from the Emirates. As a result of this, whatever developments happen in Dubai, they will not directly influence the results and development of Marfin Investment Group.”