Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-03-09

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

CONTENTS

[01] Greece-FYROM-Albanians-Greek Journalist

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[03] ASE-close

[04] Weather Forecast-Saturday

[01] Greece-FYROM-Albanians-Greek Journalist

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in an announcement on Friday concerning the bloody incident in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on Thursday where a policeman was killed and Greek journalist Angeliki Kourouni found herself in grave danger, called for respect of rules concerning the safety of journalists in the course of their duty. The incident occurred when Albanian nationalsits opened fire on FYROM security forces.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Monday's buying rates

U.S. dollar 361.270

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 530.317

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 45.286

Swedish kroner 37.202

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 302.593

Swiss franc 219.061

Norwegian kroner 41.187

Cyprus pound 583.695

Canadian dollar 233.710

Australian dollar 185.039

[03] ASE-close

Greek stocks ended the last trading session of the week mixed to lower on the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday, with the general index remaining above the 3,200 level despite waves of profit taking following Thursday's sharp advance.

Traders said market sentiment was positive and described the appearance of selling pressure as a normal reaction of the market.

Smaller capitalisation stocks remained in focus, while banks and telecoms came under pressure.

The general index ended 0.20 percent lower at 3,269.75 points, off the day's highs of 3,300 and the day's lows of 3,254 points. Turnover was 270.04 million euros, or 92.017 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.41 percent to 1,853.80 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose 0.62 percent to 391.37 points.

Sector indices ended as follows:

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 362.48 points, off 0.04 percent.

[04] Weather Forecast-Saturday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Saturday, which is likely to turn to showers in the north and centre, and rain or storms in the northwest. Winds will be southerly, light to moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 3C to 19C; on the rest of the mainland from 6C to 20C; and in the islands from 9C to 18C. Light cloud in Athens, with temperatures between 8C and 19C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 5C to 18C.

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