Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-09-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] NATO military chiefs-convention - Recasts - adds more

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

[03] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

[04] Greece-investment companies-report

[05] Cosmote-mobile portal

[06] ASE-close

[07] Greece-Papantoniou-economic policy

[01] NATO military chiefs-convention - Recasts - adds more

The chiefs of armed forces general staff of 19 NATO member-states opened Monday's session of the annual rotating Convention of NATOs Military Committee, at an Athens resort to discuss the situation in the Balkans and a new structure for the Alliance.

Following the session, the Chairman of the Military Committee Italian Admiral Guido Venturoni said that the good climate between Greece and Turkey was a reality, adding that the committee was applying efforts to aid its continuation.

He said that during the closed session the leaders of NATO discussed the deployment of the alliances forces in locations to be decided in 2001, following examination of conditions, capabilities and the local military forces of the selected locations-regions.

Speaking on Yugoslavia, he said that the committees first and foremost concern was securing normalcy and peace especially during this time, as that country is scheduled to hold elections on Sept. 24.

He said that Greece, France and Italy were reinforcing their forces in light of the elections in Yugoslavia, aiming to avert unrest, incidents and development of tension.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

Indicative retail rates released by the central bank for the next working day.

Tuesdays rates (buying)

Euro 335.514

U.S. dollar 391.106

German mark 171.546

French franc 051.149

Pound sterling 551.889

Irish punt 426.015

Belgian franc 008.317

Luxembourg franc 008.317

Dutch guilder 152.250

Italian lira (100) 017.328

Austrian schilling 024.382

Danish kroner 045.001

Swedish kroner 040.071

Finnish mark 056.430

Spanish peseta 002.017

Portuguese escudo 001.674

Japanese yen (100) 367.764

Swiss franc 219.207

Norwegian kroner 041.813

Cyprus pound 587.562

Canadian dollar 264.150

Australian dollar 216.931

[03] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

Scattered cloud and showers are forecast in most parts of the country on Tuesday. Winds northerly, moderate, turning strong in parts of the Aegean Sea. Temperatures in the north will range from 13C to 25C; on the rest of the mainland and in the Ionian from 16C to 29C; and in the Aegean from 20C to 28C. Showery in Athens, with temperatures between 20C and 29C. Overcast in Thessaloniki, with temperatures ranging from 17C to 25C.

[04] Greece-investment companies-report

Greece's 17 closed-fund investment companies' net assets totalled 1.071 trillion drachmas in August, down 120 billion drachmas from the previous month, Union of Institutional Investors' figures showed on Monday.

The sector's net asset value showed a 13.9 to 52.6 percent decline from the start of the year.

A total of five companies were showing a premium ranging from 13.3 percent to 591.6 percent over the same period, while the other 12 companies were trading with a discount ranging from 3.1 to 23.5 percent.

The investment index on the Athens Stock Exchange fell 12.8 percent in August compared with a 10.8 percent fall of the general index.

It showed a 49.8 percent fall from the start of the year, up from a 35.7 percent decline of the general index.

[05] Cosmote-mobile portal

Cosmote, Greece's second largest mobile operator, on Monday announced the creation of a mobile portal, named MyCosmos, to offer wireless internet services to all its customers free of charge.

Customer access to MyCosmos will be made through sending messages, the SIM card, the WAP advanced technology and the voice identification system, exclusively owned by Cosmote in Greece.

MyCosmos was set-up in cooperation with Antenna TV, Flash Radio, Yahoo and Bank of Piraeus.

Cosmote plans to offer additional services from its mobile portal, such as stock transactions, and information on recreation, news and customer service.

[06] ASE-close

Equity prices succumbed to profit taking to end lower on Monday, reversing a seven-day rally which pushed the market 27.76 percent higher, or around 1,000 points.

Dealers said Monday's change of course was a normal reaction of the market following its "violent" rise last week and predicted that stock prices would stabilise around current levels before starting a new round of advance.

The general index ended 3.31 percent lower at 4,236.90 points, off the day's highs of 4,459.38 and the day's lows of 4,223.66 points. Turnover was a heavy 201.15 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 2,403.89 points, off 4.30 percent, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 1.77 percent to 575.65 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 696.43 points, off 3.58 percent.

[07] Greece-Papantoniou-economic policy

The creation of fiscal surpluses, further developing of the education and health sectors, structural changes and creation of a fraternity society in Greece, "will be the basic components of economic growth in the next 10 years", National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou said on Monday.

Papantoniou said that the government has no more room for cuts in fuel taxes.

He predicted that inflation would end at 2-2.5 percent this year, to fall around 2.0 percent in 2001, and that the economy would grow at 4.1 percent, accelerating to 5.0 percent next year.

"Greece has a comparative advantage right now because of the large infrastructure projects, currently under way, compared with the other European Union countries. Privatisation and converging interest rates are also offering additional comparative advantages to the Greek economy," he noted.

"These advantages will cease to exist in the next few years. That's why we have to invest in high-risk economic sectors," Papantoniou said.

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