Other banks have also lowered their interest rates, in the wake of a cut announced last week by the European Central Bank.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Thursday

Buying rates for Thursday

U.S. dollar 382.650

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 545.820

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 45.298

Swedish kroner 37.263

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 309.379

Swiss franc 220.507

Norwegian kroner 42.076

Cyprus pound 584.577

Canadian dollar 247.350

Australian dollar 199.759

[03] Weather Forecast-Thursday

Sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Thursday. Early morning visibility will be limited. Winds northerly, light, turning moderate in the Aegean. On the northern mainland, temperatures will range from 11C to 27C; on the rest of the mainland and in the Ionian from 14C to 29C; and in the Aegean islands from 15C to 24C. In Athens, temperatures will range between 15C and 28C; and in Thessaloniki from 13C to 26C.

[04] ASE-close

Equity prices ended modestly higher on Wednesday in what dealers described as a technical rebound of the market following a 10-day decline of the general index near the psychological barrier of 3,000 points.

Traders, however, noted that the Greek bourse was unable to hold to its initial bigger gains because of lack of buying interest and a low turnover.

The general index ended 0.57 percent lower at 3,039.61 points, off the day's highs of 3,070.05 points. Turnover was a low 144.821 million euros, or 49.347 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 0.81 percent to 1,768.73 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose 0.37 percent to 354.47 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 308.35 points, up 0.72 percent.

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