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Greek markets: When will they open and what’ll happen?

A European Union flag flies outside the Athens Stock Exchange.
Angelos Tzortzinis | AFP | Getty Images

Greece's main stock market, the Athens Stock Exchange, is expected to open again at some point this week, marking – it's hoped – a return to relative normality for the troubled Mediterranean country.

"The reopening of the market would no doubt also send a positive signal as regards the slow return to at least some semblance of normality in Greece," currency analysts at Rabobank wrote in a research note.

Late Tuesday, the Greek securities regulator announced that it would decide early on Wednesday on a date for reopening - which could be as early or Wednesday or Thursday, Reuters reported.

Yet when business as usual is not exactly thriving, this could be cold comfort. CNBC takes a look at how the markets and businesses might cope.

Coming out of capital controls

Greece has already undergone an enforced three-week bank holiday with stringent limits on cash withdrawals as its leaders battled to secure a deal with creditors in the euro zone and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Read MoreGreek market to remain closed: Official sources

When the stock market closed, it stood at 797.52, 30 percent down over the year and just 15 percent of the 5,178.83 it was worth at the end of 2007, before the country's financial crisis erupted.

Monday saw the return of Greece's creditors to Athens to start the negotiations for a 86 billion euro ($95 billion) third bailout, heralding hopes for a return to greater stability among investors and Greeks alike.

So what could happen to the stocks?

The banks and property companies are likely to be hardest hit, with the fragility of the banking system highlighted by the liquidity limitations placed by the European Central Bank. Thanks to the lifting of some capital controls, Greek companies are now able to make foreign payments, which means they can start importing raw materials and other goods again. Yet even hardy investors could be justifiably nervous, when the country's third bailout has still yet to be agreed.

If you take the New York-listed Greek tracker fund, the Global X FTSE Greece 20, as a guide, the signs are not good. The often volatile tracker fund is down 17 percent over the course of a month.

Athens still nervous?

Greece's recent woes came back on to the agenda Sunday, after barely a week from the spotlight.

Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister, and ex-energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis, had begun examining a Plan B of how to exit the euro for the drachma, according to the influential Greek newspaper Ekathimerini. Varoufakis has since confirmed plans were made, but said some details had been "distorted" in an interview with the Daily Telegraph.

Who's winning in Greece: Krugman or Germany?

Making plans for a return to the drachma, given the parlous state of Greece's relationship with the euro zone this year, doesn't seem like the most dangerous or unexpected of moves. The story highlights the recent insecurity in the country, however.

By CNBC's Catherine Boyle