Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-03-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[02] Secondary Bond Market-Close

[03] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

[04] ASE-close

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Tuesday's buying rates

U.S. dollar 364.555

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 533.497

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 45.280

Swedish kroner 37.093

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 303.320

Swiss franc 219.315

Norwegian kroner 41.112

Cyprus pound 583.765

Canadian dollar 235.422

Australian dollar 185.190

[02] Secondary Bond Market-Close

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Monday finished higher in light trade.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 5.286 percent from 5.28 percent a day earlier.

The yield spread over German bunds was 57.1 basis points from 57 basis points in the previous session

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totalled 425 million euros (144.8 billion drachmas) from 1.595 billion euros (543.5 billion drachmas) in trade the day before.

Buy orders accounted for the bulk of turnover.

[03] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

The day will start sunny around the country on Tuesday, turning to cloud in the west, centre and north in the afternoon, and rain or storms in the northwest towards evening. The morning will be misty. Winds will be variable, light to moderate, turning strong in the Ionian sea. In the north, temperatures will range from 5C to 19C; on the rest of the mainland from 8C to 20C; and in the islands from 10C to 19C. Sunshine in Athens with temperatures between 10C and 20C. Same in Thessaloniki, with morning mist, and temperatures from 6C to 18C.

[04] ASE-close

Equity prices ended with a mixed appearance on Monday as the Athens Stock Exchange resisted pressures from sharp falls in international markets supported by strong buying interest in textiles, construciton, insurance and investments.

Traders said a decline in the general index, because of losses in blue chip telecom and bank shares, did not reflect the market's general positive climate.

The general index ended at 3.259.18 points, down 0.32 percent, but off the day's lows of 3,229.58 points. Analysts said the market has found a short-term support at the 3,250 level. Turnover was a strong 310.48 million euros, or 105.795 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.6 percent lower at 1,842.62 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 1.29 percent to 396.40 points.

Sector indices ended as follows:

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 367.95 points, up 1.51 percent.

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