New York: With the current chaos surrounding a Greek default and possible exit from the Eurozone, Greek shipowning stocks have taken a beating in US markets this morning.
Compounding the misery, a higher tonnage tax has been demanded by Greece’s creditors as is the phasing-out of special tax allowances for Greek owners.
Within an hour of the markets opening, most Greek shopwning stocks are being outperformed by the market (down 1.2%) with a few exceptions including Eagle Bulk, Box Ships and Baltic Trading all down less than a percent.
The biggest loser is NewLead Holdings, down an astonishing 20%, their cause not helped by an ongoing legal case brought by TransAsia Commodities. Other “biggest losers” are Globus Maritime down 14.5%, FreeSeas down 8.3%, DryShips down 7.4%, Tsakos Energy Navigation down 7% and Seanergy Maritime Holdings down 6.7%.
Evangelos Pistiolis-led Top Ships is the big winner today so far, with the company’s share price up nearly 2%, one of only a handful of shipping stocks not to retreat in a bad day on Wall Street so far.
