Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-03-04

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

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

CONTENTS

[01] Derivatives Market Close: Equity index futures rise, tracking bourse

[02] Bond Market Close: Prices higher in moderate trade

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[04] Weather Forecast: Hot and humid on Tuesday

[05] Greek Defence Minister to begin official visit to Germany

[06] New Navy chief to take over on Tuesday, govt says

[07] Greek stocks sharply up in ASE

[01] Derivatives Market Close: Equity index futures rise, tracking bourse

Equity index futures on the Athens Derivatives Exchange gained ground on Monday, tracking an upturn in the main market, traders said.

Turnover was 78.7 million euros.

The underlying FTSE/ASE-20 index for heavily traded stocks and blue chips rose 2.45 percent; and the underlying FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation stocks increased by 2.33 percent.

[02] Bond Market Close: Prices higher in moderate trade

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Monday finished higher in moderate trade focusing on 10-year paper.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 5.39 percent, and the spread over the corresponding German bund was 32 basis points.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totalled 1.54 billion euros.

Buy orders accounted for the bulk of turnover.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro until Tuesday

U.S. dollar 0.871

Pound sterling 0.614

Danish kroner 7.489

Swedish kroner 9.137

Japanese yen 115.3

Swiss franc 1.489

Norwegian kroner 7.753

Cyprus pound 0.579

Canadian dollar 1.387

Australian dollar 1.675

[04] Weather Forecast: Hot and humid on Tuesday

Sunny on Tuesday in most parts of the country, with scattered cloud in the west. Winds south, southwesterly, moderate to gale force. In the north, temperatures will range from 8C to 21C; on the rest of the mainland from 10C to 24C; and in the islands from 12C to 20C. Scattered cloud over Athens with temperatures between 10C and 23C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 8C to 19C.

[05] Greek Defence Minister to begin official visit to Germany

BERLIN (ANA - P. Stangos) Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou is due to arrive in Germany on Monday for an official visit, during which he will have lengthy talks on European Union defence and security policy, including outstanding issues related to an EU military force, and bilateral cooperation in defence procurements with his German counterpart.

A meeting between German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping and Papantoniou is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, while the visit comes shortly after the Greek government opted on Friday to put in an order for 170 LEOPARD 2-A5 tanks made by Germany's Krauss-Maffei, roughly estimated to cost upward of one billion euros.

On Monday, Papantoniou is to deliver an address to an influential German 'think tank' and later attend an official dinner given by Scharping, also to be attended by NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson.

Starting on Tuesday morning, the Greek minister will have successive meetings with the head of the German Parliament's Defence Affairs Committee Helmut Wieczorek, the president of the Mixed Greek-German Parliamentary Group Sigrid Skarpelis-Sperk, after which he will head for the defence ministry and his meeting with Scharping.

After the talks between the two ministers, there will be a meeting of delegations of the two sides, followed by a working dinner.

On Tuesday evening, Papantoniou will brief Greek correspondents in Berlin on the results of his visit before returning to Athens.

[06] New Navy chief to take over on Tuesday, govt says

The new chief of the Navy General Staff will take over the reins from his predecessor George Theodoroulakis at a ceremony on Tuesday, in the presence of Deputy Defence Minister Loukas Apostolidis.

Deputy Press Minister Tilemachos Hytiris made the announcement on Monday and explained that Apostolidis would be filling in for Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou, who would be absent in Germany on that day.

Commenting on Friday's statement by government spokesman Christos Protopapas, meanwhile, who told reporters just hours before the Navy chief's resignation that "there was no Theodoroulakis issue," Hytiris said that this had been the case at the time the statement was made.

Regarding the changes and promotions in the Armed Forces, which are said to have prompted the departing Navy chief's resignation, Hytiris stressed that the political leadership of the country always had the final word in such decisions.

[07] Greek stocks sharply up in ASE

Equity prices ended the first trading session of the week with sharp gains, following a spectacular improvement in international markets' climate.

The general index jumped 2.26 percent to end ata 2,419.51 points, with turnover a low 111 million euros.

The Banks, Metals and Construction sectors scored the biggest percentage gains (3.02 percent, 2.80 percent and 2.79 percent, respectively), with the Retail and Insurance sectors suffering losses (0.51 percent and 0.05 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 2.45 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 2.33 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 2.28 percent up.

ETEBAbank (+7.06 percent), National Bank (+3.65 percent), Eurobank (+3.09 percent), Piraeus Bank (+2.94 percent) and Commercial Bank (+2.90 percent), were the biggest percentage gainers in the banking sector.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 317 to 26 with another 17 issues unchanged.

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