Greek Stocks Lower On US Exchanges Following Debt Deferment

Greece reportedly surprised its creditors Thursday with a plan to defer a $350 million payment due Friday to the International Monetary Fund. A number of Greek stocks trading on U.S. exchanges were lower on the news. The National Bank of Greece NBG dropped nearly 7.9 percent at $1.85 and Piraeus Bank SA BPIRY fell by a similar percent to $1.05. The exchange-traded Greek fund Global X GREK was off 4.4 percent at $12.20. The Greek government said it will bundle all the payments it owes in June totaling $1.69 billion and transfer it at the end of the month under a rarely used IMF provision, according to the Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/499e2286-0a97-11e5-a8e8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3c7U7U3ik Greece's move "holds political and financial-market implications that are hard to predict," according to The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/business/international/greece-debt-talks-ecb-imf-european-commission.html?ref=world Earlier Friday, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said at a Washington news conference that she believed Greece would make Friday's payment, according to multiple reports. But a spokesman for Greece's ruling party Syriza had warned of the possible non-payment on Wednesday. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/03/eurozone-greece-imf-idUSA8N0XR02520150603 The IMF acknowledged Thursday that Greece's move to bundle June payments into one lump sum is compatible with a 1970s Executive Board decision, according to the Greek news site enikos.gr. http://en.enikos.gr/economy/30061,IMF-acknowledges-Greek-repayment-bundling-request.html "The decision was intended to address the administrative difficulty of making multiple payments in a short period," the IMF said in a widely reported statement.