Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-09-03

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[02] New Athens airport's eateries rated among world's best

[03] Greek stocks resist pressures, end slightly higher

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.998

Pound sterling 0.641

Danish kroner 7.485

Swedish kroner 9.357

Japanese yen 117.1

Swiss franc 1.481

Norwegian kroner 7.497

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.551

Australian dollar 1.816

[02] New Athens airport's eateries rated among world's best

The new Athens airport at Spata is apparently bucking the latest inflationary trend in the country, as its restaurants and eateries were rated first in Europe and second internationally by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in terms of quality and value.

IATAs report, compiled between April 2001 and March 2002, surveyed the quality and variety of foods, prices, access, cleanliness, the general decor of restaurants as well as customers satisfaction in arriving at its ratings.

The report gave the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, which opened in March 2001, similar high marks during the third trimester of 2001.

The news came on the heels of the recent opening of an ?Olive Tree? outlet at the Athens airport offering traditional Grecian and Mediterranean cuisine.

[03] Greek stocks resist pressures, end slightly higher

Greek stocks ended Tuesday's session slightly higher on the Athens Stock Exchange, recovering from its initial losses with the help of a late wave of buying blue chip stocks.

Traders said that the Greek bourse managed to resist pressures from declining prices in international markets.

The general index ended 0.24 percent higher at 2,104.62 points, after losing more than 1.0 percent of its value in intra-day transactions.

Turnover was a low 69.2 million euros.

The Construction, Retail and Wholesale sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (1.59 percent, 1.18 percent and 1.07 percent, respectively), while the Insurance, Food-Beverage and Telecommunications sectors suffered the heaviest losses (1.20 percent, 1.08 percent and 0.79 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index of blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.39 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended 0.71 percent higher and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.38 percent up.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 165 to 142 with another 46 issues unchanged.

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