Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-07-17

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

[02] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

[03] General Bank-new chairman

[04] Hellenic Bank Association-secretary general

[05] ASE-close

[06] Greece-trade unions-reactions

[07] Greece-retail sales-building activity-April

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates-Tuesday

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

Tuesdays rates (buying)

Euro 333.907

U.S. dollar 355.880

[02] Weather Forecast-Tuesday

Sunny weather is forecast in most parts of the country on Tuesday with scattered cloud in the north.

[03] General Bank-new chairman

General Bank's new chairman and chief executive, Ioannis Manos, on Monday unveiled the basic axes of the bank's strategic plan aimed to prepare the bank for new challenges.

Speaking to reporters on the occasion of the official assumption of office, Manos - a former secretary-general at Hellenic Bank Association - said his immediate priorities were the restructuring of the bank's network, strengthening its capital base, developing efficient internal and external control systems and offering updated banking products to customers.

The plan also envisages the continuous training of the bank's workforce, adopting the latest technology and activating its affiliates.

General Bank's board also appointed Yiannos Mourgelas as general manager of the bank.

[04] Hellenic Bank Association-secretary general

Hellenic Bank Association's board on Monday appointed Christos Gortsos, its legal adviser, as secretary-general following the resignation of Ioannis Manos who took over as General Bank's chairman.

Gortsos, 39, has studied law and economics in Athens, Zurich, Penn State and Geneva and has majored in international and European banking law.

He works at Hellenic Bank Association since 1991.

[05] ASE-close

Equity prices rebounded strongly on Monday, extending Friday's gains on the Athens Stock Exchange helped by improved climate among investors and a sharp rise in turnover.

Shares in the Leasing and smaller capitalisation sectors were top gainers, while banks and telecommunications led the market higher.

Analysts predicted that if the market continued moving higher on Tuesday, then investors could reappear strongly in the market in the next three weeks. The cited the 4,250 level as a strong resistance level in the short-term.

The general index ended at 4,081.52 points, up 1.87 percent, with turnover at 127.3 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for heavy traded blue chips ended 1.44 percent higher at 2,264.28 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index jumped 2.41 percent to 590.81 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 803.70 points, up 6.01 percent.

[06] Greece-trade unions-reactions

The Greek government and trade unions were heading for a collision on Monday after the country's largest union umbrella GSEE rejected new measures to boost employment, presented last week by Labour Minister Tassos Yiannitsis and National Economy and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou.

Christos Polyzogopoulos, Greece's largest trade union's chairman, said the new measures were designed to benefit employers and were against workers' interests. "It is a policy that does not deal with unemployment," he said.

"GSEE has decided not to take part in a dialogue sponsored by the government," Polyzogopoulos told reporters after a union meeting.

He urged the government to agree to an open dialogue aimed to determine a policy to boost employment and combatting unemployment.

GSEE's chairman warned that trade unions were determined to respond to the implementation of any "shock therapy policies" with industrial action, if necessary, during the summer.

He also urged the government to withdraw its proposals by September.

Divisions, however, emerged within the union with Communist Party of Greece affiliated unionists calling for immediate reactions and a workers' rally next Thursday outside the Labour ministry's building.

[07] Greece-retail sales-building activity-April

The value of retail sales increased by 5.4 percent in April from the same month last year, while total turnover in the January-April period rose 3.4 percent, the National Statistics Services said on Monday.

The NSS also announced that private building activity rose 1.1 percent in April, reflecting a 9.5 percent rise in the Attica region and a 11.7 percent increase in the rest of the country.

Building activity, however, fell 1.3 percent in the January-April period hit by a 12.8 percent drop in the Attica region. It was 4.2 percent up in the rest of Greece.

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