Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-10-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] Italian embassy in Washington hosts Greek cultural event

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates: Monday

[03] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Saturday

[04] ASE holds 2,100-point level on Friday

[01] Italian embassy in Washington hosts Greek cultural event

WASHINGTON (ANA/T. Ellis) - The Italian embassy here was flooded on Thursday with people that came to enjoy a cultural event in honor of the Greek speaking southern Italians, the highlight of which was an impressive performance by singer Ellis Paspala.

The event, that was attended by more than 800 people, was co-organized by the Greek embassy's press office and the cultural section of the Italian embassy.

The two countries were represented by their embassies' attaches Italian Stephano Stephanini and Greek Eleftherios Angelopoulos, both of them stressing that as the Greek speaking population of Southern Italy are a bridge uniting the two countries, in a similar manner this common event is a bridge between the Greek EU presidency and the Italian EU presidency, as well as an indication of the close ties between Greece and Italy since antiquity.

The event was inaugurated by Lecce University Prof. Isabella Bernardini, who is specializing on the language, songs, history and culture of the Greek speaking people of Southern Italy.

The Niarchos Foundation, the Society for the Maintenance of Hellenic Heritage and the Italian Educational Institute of Washington co-sponsored the event.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates: Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.188

Pound sterling 0.714

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.074

Japanese yen 128.8

Swiss franc 1.562

Norwegian kroner 8.292

Cyprus pound 0.589

Canadian dollar 1.580

Australian dollar 1.719

[03] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Saturday

All parts of the country will be sunny. Storms are expected in the north. Winds northerly, light to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 5C to 23C; in the west from 8C to 25C; and in the rest of the country 9C to 24C. Temperatures in Athens between 13C and 23C; and in Thessaloniki from 10C to 22C.

[04] ASE holds 2,100-point level on Friday

Greek stocks ended the last trading session of the week lower in the Athens Stock Exchange as investors took early profits in heavy blue chip stocks like Hellenic Telecoms, National Bank, Emporiki Bank, Hellenic Petroleum, ahead of the weekend.

The general index ended 0.58 percent lower at 2,108.62 points, after rising to 2,135.22 points early in the session. The index ended the week with a net gain of 0.89 percent. Trading was a low 108.5 million euros.

The IT Solution and Cement sectors were the only ones to score gains (2.44 percent and 0.81 percent, respectively), while the Food-Beverage, Publication and Telecommunications sectors (1.69 percent, 1.17 percent and 1.14 percent, respectively) suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 0.67 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 0.18 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.52 percent down.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 211 to 109 with another 45 issues unchanged.

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