Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-05-05

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Prince Charles-Ends Greece visit

[02] Australia-General Governor-Greece-Visit

[03] Greece-Turkey-Wind Power

[04] Thessaloniki-Prince Charles-Cruise

[05] Turkey-Ecumenical Patriarch-Service

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[07] Weather Forecast-Saturday

[08] Papantoniou-privatisations-tax cuts

[09] ASE-weekly review

[10] ADEX-close

[11] ASE-close

[12] Stranded - Illegals - Rescued

[01] Prince Charles-Ends Greece visit

Prince Charles departed for London on Friday after bad weather and strong winds did not allow him to continue his scheduled cruise of the Aegean islands.

From the autonomous monastic community of Mount Athos, where he stayed for three days, he departed on a luxury yacht for the island of Limnos from where he left for London on a Lear jet.

The plane took off from Limnos' Myrina airport at 5:30 p.m.

[02] Australia-General Governor-Greece-Visit

The General Governor of Australia, Sir William Deane, accompanied by his wife, will begin an official two-day visit to Greece on May 11 at the invitation of President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos, the press office of the Presidency of the Republic announced on Friday.

[03] Greece-Turkey-Wind Power

ISTANBUL (ANA-A.Kourkoulas) - Rokas of Greece and Gucbirligi Holding of Turkey have signed a memorandum of understanding on possible exploitation of wind energy, the Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.

[04] Thessaloniki-Prince Charles-Cruise

Prince Charles left Mount Athos on Friday morning and continued his cruise of the Aegean islands.

The heir to the British throne had stayed on Mount Athos for three days, longer than initially scheduled. He was compelled to extend his stay at the autonomous monastic community due to bad weather.

Prince Charles is expected to continue his cruise with his friend Camilla Parker-Bowles in the Cycladic islands.

[05] Turkey-Ecumenical Patriarch-Service

ISTANBUL (ANA - A. Kourkoulas) - Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomeos will conduct a service at Avanos, Cappadocia on May 7, in a move of historic significance for Greek-Turkish relations.

Cappadocia, in central Turkey, is a historic centre of Greek Orthodox tradition and was evacuated by the Greek Orthodox polulation in 1923 following the Greek-Turkish agreement for an exchange of

populations.

Through the Patriarch's service at Avanos, the Church of Cappadocia gradually finds its historic continuity.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Following are indicative foreign exchange rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Saturday's rates (buying)

Euro 333.500

U.S. dollar 370.780

[07] Weather Forecast-Saturday

Sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Saturday, turning to cloud on the mainland from early evening.

[08] Papantoniou-privatisations-tax cuts

"Greece's entry procedure into the euro zone will progress smoothly despite voices of reservations, because all countries and all political forces are welcoming us," National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said on Friday.

Papantoniou attributed some German officials' reservations to domestic policy reasons and as part of efforts to convince the German public over the benefits of exchanging the DMark with the euro currency.

He stressed that the euro's weakness has started almost six months ago and that it had nothing to do with Greece's EMU membership.

Papantoniou also announced that next year's budget - to be tabled in Parliament next fall - would include a cut in the tax ceiling rate from 45 to 40 percent and the abolition of a special tax on banking services.

He said that interest rates would be drastically cut in the second half of the year to almost half of their current level. "Following our entry in the euro zone, interest rates will be around 4.0 percent," he said.

Commenting on the government's privatisation policy, Papantoniou reiterated that the government was planning another 15 flotations and privatisations, including the Agricultural Bank of Greece, the Public Power Corp., Hellenic Telecoms (OTE), port authorities and defence-related industries.

He also defended plans for the liberalisation of certain professional trades, such as notaries, taxi-drivers and car mechanics, saying that such a move could free all "creative powers" in the economy and that society that want to contribute in recovery and growth.

Papantoniou confirmed reports of a privatisation in Olympic Airways. "We will proceed initially with an option to sell a 20 percent stake to British Airways and then decide on our next move. Selling a 49 percent stake in OA's equity is among our policy choices, but the first stage envisages only the 20 percent," he noted.

[09] ASE-weekly review

The general index ended the week under review with gains on the Athens Stock Exchange, reversing a three-week declining trend.

The Greek bourse showed signs of stabilisation during the last few sessions, finding new support levels and with share prices moving within a narrower range following weeks of high volatility.

Several analysts expect the market to move within the 4,000-5,000 levels in the short-term, while others warned that reduced turnover would put a lid on the market.

Investors, however, remain cautious awaiting the government's moves on privatisation and the next move on interest rates by the US Federal Reserve.

Dealers said that investors were reluctant to sell their stock holdings on the hope of a recovery in the market.

The general index ended the week 167.15 points, or 3.93 percent higher.

The week's turnover totalled 497.7 billion drachmas to a daily average of 124.425 billion, sharply up from 92.5 billion drachmas the previous week.

[10] ADEX-close

Derivatives prices rebounded on the Athens Derivatives Exchange to end higher on Friday following gains in the two benchmark indices, FTSE/ASE 20 and FTSE/ASE 40.

Turnover, however, was a low six billion drachmas in volume of 2,183 contracts.

A total of 526 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 index, worth 2.4 billion drachmas. The May expiring contract ended at 2,439 points, the June at 2,453.75 and the September contract at 2,460 points.

A total of 1,657 contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 40 index, with a turnover of 3.6 billion drachmas. The May expiring contract ended at 583.25 points, the June at 580.50 and the September contract at 582.50 points.

[11] ASE-close

Equity prices ended substantially higher on the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday reflecting renewed buying interest in small and medium capitalisation stocks and an improvement in turnover.

The general index finally surpassed the 4,400 level, following three unsuccessful attempts in the week, to end at 4,416.60 points, up 1.34 percent. Turnover was 120 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 2,466.87 points, up 0.98 percent and the FTSE/ASE 40 index jumped 3.78 percent to 601.71 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 738.32 points, up 5.97 percent.

[12] Stranded - Illegals - Rescued

Greek coast guard units completed the rescue of 158 illegal immigrants stranded on an uninhabited islet off Crete early Friday afternoon.

The illegals, reportedly all Kurds, were loaded aboard inflatable craft and transferred off the rocky islet. A search for more individuals is reportedly underway amid rough seas, while debris from the wreckage of a wooden vessel believed to have transported the group was spotted nearby, authorities said.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article