Athens News Agency: News in English (PM), 99-08-17

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

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 17/08/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Killer earthquake felt in northern Greece
• Policeman arrested for heroin possession
• Arsonists reduce "Hell Club" to blazing inferno
• Stocks power ahead in record-breaking rally
• Bonds nose down in scant trade
• EU to support further Greek-Turkish cooperation
• Greek soccer hooliganism ranked among the lowest in Europe
• ITF to assume Balkan orientation
• Mt. Athos monks oppose visit by Pope
• Equity mutual fund assets jump
• Retail sales up 4.7 pct in May
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

A killer earthquake that shook neigbouring Turkey at dawn Tuesday was strongly felt in northern Greece and seismologists said the tremor measured 7.3 on the Richter scale.

A spokesman for the geological institute at the university of Thessaloniki in northern Greece said it recorded the quake at 03.02 local time measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale. It said its epicenter was 90 kilometres east of Istanbul. prison island of Imrali.

He told ANA that there had been no reports of damage or casualties in the Greek region.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis sent a telegramme of condolences to his Turkish counterpart, Bulent Ecevit, in which he expressed the Greek government's willingness to provide all possible help to alleviate the suffering of the quake victims.

Foreign Minister George Papandreou expressed condolences to the victims of the devastating earthquake during a telephone conversation on Tuesday with his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem.

Papandreou also expressed Greece's undivided support for the neighbouring country and said Greece would help Turkey for as long as it may be necessary.

In a related development, Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos appealed to all Athenians to donate foodstuffs, clothing, medical supplies and tents which will be sent to the quake victims within one week.

Policeman arrested for heroin possession

A sergeant attached to the Nevrokopi police station in Drama was arrested by colleagues on Tuesday after being found in possession of over 2 kilos of heroin.

Under questioning, Pavlos Mouratidis, 33, said he had bought the 2.15 kilos of heroin from a man he named as Lazaros Paratalidis, for whom an arrest warrant has already been issued.

Mouratidis had been on suspension since February after being arrested in Drama when the police found a small quantity of hashish in his car.

The officer has been remanded in custody in Komotini.

Arsonists reduce "Hell Club" to blazing inferno

A nightclub in Chania, Crete lived up to its name when it was completely destroyed by fire early Tuesday morning.

According to the fire brigade, the blaze at the "Hell Club" at Platania was the work of arsonists. Officers said the interior of the club had been doused with gasoline which was then ignited by a makeshift incendiary device.

The damage is estimated at 30 million drachmas.

Stocks power ahead in record-breaking rally

Equities surged into new record territory yesterday extending their rally for the 10th consecutive session on the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index ended 1.76 percent higher at 4,884.22 points, off the day's high of 4,929 points. It was its 39th record this year.

Turnover was 220.623 billion drachmas with 31,496,973 shares changing hands.

Dealers said that high liquidity in the market, supported by huge private capital and mutual fund inflows, was the main factor in the market's recent strength.

According to early estimates, inflows into domestic equity mutual funds totalled 150 billion drachmas in the first two weeks of August.

Analysts said that high liquidity had reduced the prospect of a major correction in the market, a move that was likely to be dictated only by negative developments in international markets.

They also said that the market would meet strong resistance at the 5,000 point level.

The market's recent record rally reflects a belief by investors that interest rates will fall in the next few months following a new drop in the inflation rate. Also fuelling the market is a decision to upgrade the Greek stock market from an emerging to a mature market.

The bourse's total capitalisation exceeds 48 trillion drachmas, representing more than 125 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Sector indices ended as follows: Banks (+1.14 pct), Insurance (+6.50 pct), Construction (+1.26 pct), Miscellaneous (+2.30 pct), Leasing (+1.25 pct), Investment (+2.99 pct), Industrials (+1.84 pct) and Holding (+4.26 pct).

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 3.76 percent higher while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 1.85 percent up at 2,725.03 points.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 217 to 71 with another seven issues unchanged.

A total of 42 shares ended at the day's 8.0 percent limit up, while another four ended at the day's limit down.

Minoan Lines, Strintzis and Hellenic Petroleum were the most heavily traded stocks of the day, while Minoan Lines, Eurobank, National Bank and Alpha Credit Bank led the day's turnover.

Elgeka's shares surged 99 percent in the first trading day in the market.

National Bank of Greece ended at 22,750 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 22, 500, Commercial Bank at 27,750, Ergobank at 31,500, Titan Cement at 35,000, Hellenic Petroleum at 3,305, Intracom at 22,800, Minoan Lines at 6,366, Panafon at 8,500 and Hellenic Telecoms at 6,790.

Bonds nose down in scant trade

Secondary market bond prices crept down in negligible trade yesterday with investors steering clear of the market. Electronic trade was a negligible 2.0 billion drachmas. The 10 year bond maturing in 2009 was still trading below par at 96.85-97.25 showing a yield of 6.75-6.69 percent.

The ten year bond maturing in 2008 was trading at 110.10-110.45 with a yield of 6.99-6.94 percent.

The yield spread above German bunds was 183 basis points from 184 basis points on Friday.

At the central bank's daily fix, the euro edged down against the drachma. It was set at 326.450 drachmas from 326.700 drachmas on Friday.

The Bank of Greece stepped in to prop up the European currency, buying 80 million euros.

Also at the fix, the dollar jumped versus the drachma in line with the US currency's ascent in markets abroad.

The greenback was set at 308.660 drachmas from 306.140 drachmas on Friday.

EU to support further Greek-Turkish cooperation

The European Union, wishing to pursue how far Turkey is capable of effecting reforms which could open the way to its accession to the EU, will support further Greek-Turkish cooperation on tourism, cultural and anti- terrorism issues, the new European Commissioner responsible for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen said yesterday.

In a written reply to questions by Eurodeputies, Mr. Verheugen said that Turkey has been knocking on Europe's door for the past thirty years, but it has not been admitted due to its treatment of the Kurdish minority, and also because of its territorial differences with Greece.

Mr. Verheugen said that Turkey should not expect any special treatment in its efforts to join the EU and that it should improve its performance in the human rights sector if it wishes a place on the waiting list (of candidate states).

"I feel that Turkey has serious weaknesses in the sectors of democracy, law enforcement, human rights and the protection of minorities. Another obstacle has been its disputes with its neighbouring countries", Mr. Verheugen said.

Greek soccer hooliganism ranked among the lowest in Europe

Greece ranked at the bottom of the list of European countries on soccer violence in the 1997-98 period, according to a Council of Europe report.

The report on prevention and limiting of hooliganism, through the exchange of experience, the controlled entry in sports facilities and the policy on the mass media sector, showed that the phenomenon of hooliganism in Greece, as well as in other Mediter ranean countries, is limited, compared with that of northern member-states.

The report also stated that Mediterranean states' fans of national soccer teams relations were characterised as friendly as opposed to northern and western member-states, were there are serious problems with violence between fans.

It added that the consumption of alcohol and drugs contributed to acts of violence during soccer games, especially concerning violent acts which caused injuries and in the use of fireworks against police officers and fans of the opposing team.

Exceptions to the aforementioned problem are fans in Greece and Italy, where according to the report, alcohol and drugs did not seem to alter the reactions of the fans.

Finally, the report also noted the phenomenon of what it called the "rule- igan", fans who are anything but hooligans, mostly soccer enthusiasts from Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, and other countries, who abide by the regulations and law.

ITF to assume Balkan orientation

This year's Thessaloniki International Trade Fair (ITF) will assume a Balkan orientation with the organising of discussion panels of ministers and state-owned enterprises from the region, as well as the establishment of a Balkan information centre.

The panel that will focus on Balkan reconstruction is scheduled for Sept. 1, following Prime Minister Costas Simitis' inaugural address, of this the 64th ITF.

Economy and foreign ministers of Balkan countries will participate in the panel discussions, which will be transmitted via sattelite troughout the region.

Also, discussions between the leaderships of state-owned enterprises of Balkan states will take place between Sept. 7 and 9, in efforts to explore possible cooperation possibilities. Greece will be represented by Public Power Corporation (DEH), Public N atural Gas Enterprise (DEPA), Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation (OTE), Greek Railways Organisation (OSE) and Hellenic Petroleum (EL.PE.).

Finally, the Balkan information centre will aim at presenting economic and trade statistics of the Balkan countries, while offices of each country will facilitate the reaching of business agreements.

Mt. Athos monks oppose visit by Pope

The Mt. Athos monastic community yesterday said they were opposed to the prospect of the Pope's visit to Greece.

The Holy Community, the highest administrative body of Mt. Athos, yesterday issued a release in which it unanimously concluded that such a visit "would constitute a provocation of the popular national and religious sentiment".

"Orthodoxy does not stand for hate or fanaticism but for a sincere and unselfish love" the release said, adding that "this is exactly what created its (orthodoxy) traditional reservations toward the Pope, who in his openings and his approach efforts con tinues to respond with words only and with dialogues of love and with hostile and undermining acts, which have rendered a bitter experience for the Greek people for a number of centuries".

The Holy Community release also criticised the Pontiff of "unfair attempts to infiltrate the Orthodoxy world" through the Uniate Church.

Equity mutual fund assets jump

Domesticequity mutual fund assets rose to 2.342 trillion drachmas on August 13, up 2.75 percent on the previous day.

Analysts said yesterday that the category had increased 392.20 percent since the beginning of the year. The increase was due to high returns in the sector of up to 163 percent since the start of 1999, the analysts said.

Retail sales up 4.7 pct in May

The value of retail sales increased by 4.7 percent in May year on year compared with the same month last year, the National Statistics Service said yesterday. The NSS said in a statement that the clothing/footwear and food indices showed the highest ye ar-on-year increases at 13.8 and 4.9 percent respectively.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Tuesday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          306.191
Pound sterling       491.695
Japanese yen (100)   266.739
French franc          49.369
German mark          165.576
Italian lira (100)    16.725
Irish Punt           411.190
Belgian franc          8.028
Finnish mark          54.466
Dutch guilder        146.952
Danish kr.            43.547
Austrian sch.         23.534
Spanish peseta         1.946
Swedish kr.           36.926
Norwegian kr.         39.353
Swiss franc          202.056
Port. Escudo           1.615
Can. dollar          206.772
Aus. dollar          199.392
Cyprus pound         560.480
Euro                 323.838

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