Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-05-26

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

CONTENTS

[01] Traffic accidents

[02] Deputies - Lisbon meeting - EU

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[04] Weather Forecast-Saturday

[05] ASE-weekly review

[06] Giannoussis-1st quarter results

[07] ASE-close

[08] ADEX-close

[09] Petzetakis-1st quarter results

[10] Commercial Bank-1st quarter results

[11] Capital Markets' Committee-international activities

[01] Traffic accidents

Deaths on Greek roads annually cause a reduction in the population the size of a large village, while those injured equal the number of the inhabitants of a small town, Public Order Minister Michalis Chrysohoidis told a Cabinet meeting on Friday.

The causes of the carnage are attributed to aggressive and drunken driving, speeding, violation of safety requirements, such as non-use of helmets and seat belts, inadequate policing and the bad state of many roads.

Transport Minister Christos Verelis said the number of road accident deaths fell by five percent in 1999, while those injured numbered two percent less.

[02] Deputies - Lisbon meeting - EU

A six-member parliamentary delegation leaves Saturday for Lisbon, Portugal, to participate in the 22nd meeting of parliamentary European Affairs committees of European Union members, candidate countries and European Parliament.

During the three-day meeting which starts on Sunday, delegates will discuss matters relating to the Intergovernmental Conference, enlargement and employment as well as relations between the European Parliament and national parliaments.

The all-party delegation is headed by Third Vice-President and European Affairs President Constantine Vrettos.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Following are indicative foreign exchange rates for commercial banks released by the central bank for the next working day.

Mondays rates (buying)

Euro 334.373

U.S. dollar 366.445

[04] Weather Forecast-Saturday

Sunny weather with scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Saturday turning cloudier in the south.

[05] ASE-weekly review

Equity prices suffered sharp losses during the week under review on the Athens Stock Exchange with the market correcting itself after its spectacular rebound from the 4,250 to the 4,800 levels the previous weeks.

Dealers said the market was taking contradictory messages lately with corporate results higher than expected, but with the outlook in international markets turning negative due to a threat of higher interest rates in the US and the oil prices flirting with the 30 US dollars a barrel again.

Analysts said that any predictions on the Greek market's short-term course would be risky despite positive expectations in the second half of the year (lower interest rates, market upgrade, low P/E of the market).

They said the market would find support at the 4,550 and 4,450 points currently.

The general index ended the week 4.29 percent lower, while the week's turnover totalled 1.032 trillion drachmas to a daily average of 206.599 billion, down from 250.986 billion drachmas the previous week.

[06] Giannoussis-1st quarter results

Giannoussis ABEE on Friday reported a 37 percent rise in its 1st quarter pre-tax profits to 145 million drachmas and a 14 percent increase in sales to 823 million drachmas.

A general shareholders' meeting also approved a plan for a 58 drachmas per share net dividend payment to shareholders, reflecting 1999 sales of 3.1 billion drachmas and pre-tax profits of 409 million.

The company has agreed a merger with Klonatex Group and has already implemented an investment programme worth 2.2 billion drachmas.

[07] ASE-close

Equity prices staged a surprise rebound on the Athens Stock Exchange on Friday as a wave of buying orders for blue chip stocks during the last couple of minutes of the session reversed an earlier downward trend in the market.

Trading conditions were subdued on the last session of the week with the market finding support at the 4,550 level.

The general index ended at 4,596.70 points, up 0.79 percent, off its day's lows of 4,514 points. Turnover was a low 160 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 2,547.10 points, up 1.06 percent and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 0.45 percent to 666.47 points.

The paralllel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 0.38 percent lower at 955.91 points.

[08] ADEX-close

Derivatives prices ended with a mixed appearance the last trading session of a subdued week on the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Friday, reflecting similar picture in the two benchmark indices, FTSE/ASE 20 and FTSE/ASE 40.

Turnover was a moderate 9.8 billion drachmas in volume of 2,851 contracts.

A total of 1,074 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 index, worth 5.3 billion drachmas. The June expiring contract ended at

2,545 points and the July contract at 2,540 points.

A total of 1,777 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 40 index, with a turnover of 4.5 billion drachmas. The June expiring contract ended at 657.75 points, the July at 648 and the August at 637 points.

[09] Petzetakis-1st quarter results

A.G.Petzetakis Group on Friday reported that its group sales increased 35 percent to exceed 8.1 billion drachmas in the first quarter of 2000.

The company said its consolidated pre-tax profits surpassed 720 million drachmas in the period January-March against a loss of 87 million drachmas the same period last year. The parent's profits totalled 554 million drachmas from a loss of 118 million in 1999.

Subsidiaries' profits totalled 170 million drachmas in the first three months of the year, up from 30 million drachmas in 1999.

Petzetakis said its balance sheet was extremely healthy and that it held around 13 billion drachmas in reserves.

The company has spent 14.5 billion drachmas for new acquisitions, capital injections and bank loan repayments from a total of 26.9 billion drachmas raised through an equity capital increase plan.

The group expects its investment programme to be completed sooner than initial forecasts this year.

[10] Commercial Bank-1st quarter results

Commercial Bank of Greece on Friday reported that its net profits rose 69 percent to 18.2 billion drachmas in the first quarter of 2000, compared with the same period last year.

Net interest income increased 32 percent to 38.9 billion drachmas over the same period.

The bank's assets were 21.4 percent higher while lending was 17.6 percent up in the period January-March compared with 1999.

[11] Capital Markets' Committee-international activities

Greece's Capital Markets' Committee has signed a partnership protocol with its Brazilian counterpart during the 25th annual conference of the International Organisation of Securities Committees (IOSCO), held in Sydney, Australia.

This year's conference was titled "International Markets-International Supervision" and discussed measures to improve supervision mechanisms in global capital markets.

The Committee, headed by its chairman Stavros Thomadakis, held talks with its counterparts from Greece's neighbouring countries with the aim to sign similar partnership protocols.

IOSCO has accepted the Athens Stock Exchange as a collaborate member.

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