Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-01-16

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

CONTENTS

[01] Bari donates 258,000 euros for reconstruction of St. Nicholas Church in

[02] Weather Forecast: Overcast on Saturday

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates: Monday

[04] Greek stocks end week with net gain of 3.81 pct

[01] Bari donates 258,000 euros for reconstruction of St. Nicholas Church in NY

NEW YORK (ANA/P. Panagiotou) - The mayor of the Italian city of Bari, Simeone di Cagno Abbrescia, on Friday presented a donation of 258,000 euros to Archbishop Demetrios of America for the reconstruction of St. Nicholas Church which was destroyed during the World Trade Centre attack on September 11, 2001.

The presentation ceremony took place at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, in the presence of the mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg.

In his address, di Cagno Abbrescia noted that the city of Bari has a particular attachment and love for St. Nicholas because of the holy relics of the saint that were enshrined on May 9, 1087 in a magnificent basilica erected there in his honour. In an ecumenical gesture, the Roman Catholic Church offered some of the above relics of St. Nicholas to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America in 1972.

Bloomberg, who described the donation by the citizens of Bari as ''unprecedented generosity'', noted that the new St. Nicholas Church and the monument for the victims of the terrorist attack at the World Trade Centre will be a ''place of prayer'' for visitors from all over the world.

Archbishop Demetrios thanked di Cagno Abbrescia for the ''great donation'' by the city of Bari and showed the mayor the artifacts which were recovered from the destroyed church.

[02] Weather Forecast: Overcast on Saturday

Overcast in all parts of the country on Saturday, with a slight rise in temperature. Possibility of rain in western Greece and Macedonia. Frost in places of mainland Greece at night and in the morning. Winds southwesterly, light to moderate. Temperatures in Athens 6C to 15C and in Thessaloniki 0C to 10C.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates: Monday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.259

Pound sterling 0.693

Danish kroner 7.508

Swedish kroner 9.263

Japanese yen 133.5

Swiss franc 1.579

Norwegian kroner 8.669

Cyprus pound 0.591

Canadian dollar 1.631

Australian dollar 1.638

[04] Greek stocks end week with net gain of 3.81 pct

Greek stocks ended the last trading session of the week with moderate gains in the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday with the general index closing at 2,494.91 points, up 0.56 percent, to its highest level since February 15, 2002. The index ended the week with a net gain of 3.81 percent.

Turnover was a healthy 213.2 million euros. The Textile, Holding and Wholesale sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (2.33 percent, 2.22 percent and 1.43 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks rose 0.40 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 0.76 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index jumped 1.39 percent. The Telecommunications sector was the only one to end lower (-0.72 percent).

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 192 to 97 with another 72 issues unchanged.

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