German Stocks Drift Lower After Greek 'No' Vote

(RTTNews) - German stocks fell on Monday, but there was no panic selling in response to the Greek people's overwhelming 'No' vote rejecting proposals by international creditors in Sunday's referendum. The euro stabilized against the U.S. dollar after Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's outspoken minister of finance, abruptly resigned this morning.

The ECB's policymaking governing council will hold a conference call today to consider whether to continue providing emergency funding for Greek banks. Eurozone nations will hold an emergency summit on Tuesday to discuss the Greek referendum result.

While Greece and its international creditors are expected to try to restart negotiations on a new bailout agreement, the ECB's response would be crucial in determining the extent of contagion.

The benchmark German DAX is currently down 120 points or 1.1 percent at 10,937, while France's CAC 40 index is losing 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 is moving down half a percent.

Lenders Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are down about 3 percent each, while automakers Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen are down between 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent.

Continental AG is losing 1 percent in response to news of an early redemption of bonds issued by its subsidiary Continental Rubber of America Corp.

Utility RWE is declining 1 percent on a report it is considering a restructuring of units to reduce costs.

K+S is little changed after a German regional minister said the potash miner should remain a German company.

Shares of Deutsche Post are up nearly 3 percent. The postal operator reached a deal with trade union Verdi over pay and working conditions.

In economic releases, German factory orders fell 0.2 percent in May from the previous month, in contrast to a 2.2 percent climb in April, which was revised up from a 1.4 percent growth, preliminary figures from Destatis showed. Economists had expected a 0.4 percent drop for the month.

Activity in Germany's construction sector grew at the weakest pace in five months in June as new orders declined, survey data from Markit Economics showed. The headline PMI declined to 50.7 from 50.8 in the previous month.

Elsewhere, the Asian markets fell broadly, although Chinese stocks rose tentatively in response to a raft of support measures unveiled over the weekend.

U.S. stock futures indicate a notably lower open on Wall Street as trading resumes after a long holiday weekend.