'Huge move' after Greek vote unlikely

Greece's debt crisis took a dramatic turn last weekend. Pictured is Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Photo / AP

Today's referendum result in Greece is set to dominate market trading this week, although economists predict that it will not lead to huge impacts locally.

Greece's debt crisis took a dramatic turn last weekend when Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras suddenly called the referendum on bailout conditions.

The vote could lead to Greece's exit from the eurozone and could also be make-or-break for the radical-left Government.

Indications or the result itself should be emerging by the time the market opens today, according to AMP Capital's chief economist, Dr Shane Oliver.

He said any international figures last week from the European markets or futures trading that would usually influence markets would be swamped by news from Greece.

"If it's a 'yes' vote, then I suspect investment markets around the world will probably celebrate and react positively, even though there's still a lot of uncertainty around Greece," Oliver said.

"If it's 'no' markets will take it negatively, including our sharemarkets."

However, he said markets seemed to be increasingly used to the uncertainty around Greece. The local markets last week were a prime example, opening badly on Monday given the issues in Greece, but finishing down 0.1 per cent, virtually flat for the week.

"It's not as if it's caused a huge rupture in our sharemarket," Oliver said. "I think investors are starting to realise Greece is a special case - it's not indicative of the rest of Europe, so it's hard to see the outcome causing a huge move in either direction."

The same goes for China, whose sharemarket has fallen almost 30 per cent in the past three weeks, after a 150 per cent climb over 12 months.

Dr Oliver said the highs hadn't caused a global economic boom, so it was hard to see the fall having major impact either.

"The background noise is causing volatility for our market but it's not causing huge changes," he said.

- AAP