Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-01-10

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

CONTENTS

[01] Mutual Funds Report

[02] Opposition-elections

[03] Kosovo-Greece

[04] Greece-Turkey

[05] Stock Market

[06] CPI-December figures

[07] D'Alema-Athens

[01] Mutual Funds Report

Greece's mutual funds' assets totalled 11.933 trillion drachmas at the end of 1999, up 32.7 percent from the previous year, while their total number rose to 208 from 178 over the same period, according to data by the Union of Institutional Investors.

Investors seeking higher returns for their capital turned massively towards the domestic mutual funds' market, which although it was established as an institution in 1972, it was recording rapid growth rates in the last three or four years.

The market's assets totalled four billion drachmas at the end of 1985. Five years later assets totalled 146 billion, in 1995 it was 2.4 trillion to end 1999 at 12 trillion drachmas.

Equity mutual funds spectacularily increased their share of the total market from 5.82 percent to 41.63 percent last year.

Currency mutual funds, however, saw their share of the market reduced sharply from 66.31 pct to 38.37 pct.

Analysts said this dramatic change in the composition of the market was evidence that the Greek market was converging with other European markets where equity mutual funds hold the upper hand.

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[02] Opposition-elections

Conservative opposition New Democracy on Monday called for the prime minister to 'come clean' on when elections would be called, following weekend statements from Costas Simitis. "The prime minister has to make clear when elections will be held," New Democracy (ND) spokesman Aris Spiliotopoulos said after a party meeting to approve an extraordinary policy-making congress at the end of March. ND also postponed its regular party congress until after elections were held. Spiliotopoulos said that Prime Minister Simitis's interview in newspaper Kathimerini on Sunday was "deliberately unclear".

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[03] Kosovo-Greece

Greece's Public Power Corporation (DEH) will provide electricity to the Serbian region of Kosovo on the request of civil administration officials, the government confirmed on Monday. Government spokesman Dimitris Reppas, responding to reporters' questions, confirmed a report in Athens daily Eleftherotypia on Sunday that Bernard Kouchner, the UN civil administrator, had approached the government about DEH providing power to the war-torn region. Reppas said that DEH would offer the power requested by Mr. Kouchner.

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[04] Greece-Turkey

Foreign Minister George Papandreou will sign four bilateral agreements during his visit to Turkey later this month. Papandreou made the announcement after a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Monday morning on foreign policy and the course of Greece's national issues. Papandreou is also expected to conduct a working visit to Cyprus this week. Papandreou told reporters after the meeting that he would sign about four bilateral agreements when he visited Ankara on January 20. The agreements arise from contacts between Greek and Turkish officials earlier this year on so-called 'low-level' issues.

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[05] Stock Market

Greek equities came under renewed profit-taking pressure to end substantially lower on Monday.

Dealers said investors largely ignored a positive picture in international markets as the Greek market was in search of new balancing levels.

The general index ended 1.07 percent lower at 5,353.14 points, off the day's lows of 5.323.40 points. It had started the day with a 1.91 percent jump to 5,514.09.

Turnover was a moderate 233 billion drachmas.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks fell 0.56 percent to 1,703.01, while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 0.96 percent to 2,754.97 and the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index dropped 1.54 percent to 1,007.16 points.

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[06] CPI-December figures

Greece's annual consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.7 percent in December, compared with the same month in 1998, the National Statistics Service said on Monday.

The NSS said that the CPI rose 0.6 percent from November following monthly rises of 0.5 and 0.8 pct in November 1998 and 1997 respectively.

The final 1999 inflation rate, however, was significantly lower from the two previous years' rates of 3.9 and 4.7 percent in 1998 and 1997.

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[07] D'Alema-Athens

Italian prime minister Massimo D'Alema arrives in Athens Monday evening for an official two-day visit and talks with the Greek government.

D'Alema will be received by President of the Republic Costis Stephanopoulos and hold talks with his host, Greek premier Costas Simitis on Tuesday, before his departure at noon.

D'Alema and Simitis will Monday night address an Athens University function on the topic "For a Progressive Governance at the Start of the Century".

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