Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-06-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] Gligorov-Book-Presentation

[02] Bond prices rise in light trade

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

[04] Greek FM asks EU Council to 'blacklist' undesirable Albanians

[05] WWF working meeting begins in Ioannina's Zagorochoria district

[06] Greek stocks plunge on lack of buying interest

[07] Olympic - FYROM - Flight cancelled

[01] Gligorov-Book-Presentation

A book by Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) President Kiro Gligorov entitled "Memoirs" was presented in Athens on Monday night in his presence.

The book was presented by former foreign minister Michalis Papakonstantinou, professor Theodoros Kouloumbis and publisher Theodoros Benakis.

[02] Bond prices rise in light trade

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Monday finished higher in light trade with players focusing on 10-year paper.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 5.52 percent same as a trading day earlier.

The yield spread over German bunds was 44 basis points from 45 in the previews session.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totaled 57 million euros (196 billion drachmas) from 1.16 billion euros (395.2 billion drachmas) a trading day earlier.

Buy and sell orders were almost balanced.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Tuesday

Buying rates for Tuesday

U.S. dollar 397.979

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 550.885

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 045.345

Swedish kroner 036.303

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 326.952

Swiss franc 221.972

Norwegian kroner 042.500

Cyprus pound 587.317

Canadian dollar 262.357

Australian dollar 209.215

[04] Greek FM asks EU Council to 'blacklist' undesirable Albanians

LUXEMBOURG (ANA - V. Demiris) Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, during a debate on the FYROM crisis by the EU General Affairs Council held here on Monday, asked that known Albanian extremists and those suspected of involvement in money-laundering and the arms trade be blacklisted and denied visas to enter the EU.

Diplomatic sources said that he also suggested that the EU sign a stabilisation and association agreement with Albania, which he said would be a positive message for this country, in which Greece is directly interested.

He pointed out, during the meeting, that some half a million Albanians are currently living in Greece, who generate approximately 20 per cent of Albania's GNP.

In a joint communique issued after the meeting, the EU '15' expressed "deep concern" about the situation in FYROM and condemned the continuing terrorist attacks by Albanian extremists. They called on Albanians to surrender their guns and urged the FYROM government to show restraint.

[05] WWF working meeting begins in Ioannina's Zagorochoria district

A working meeting by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) began in Monodendri, Ioannina on Monday with a discussion on the management of protected areas in Greece.

The organisation has chosen the village in Ioannina's picturesque Zagorochoria district to discuss environmental issues and to establish common policy lines on the handling of protected natural habitats.

Present at the Monodendri meeting were 110 delegates from Greece and other European countries, while speakers included noted scientists, WWF officials and representatives of state bodies and organisations involved in environmental protection.

The meeting was opened by Deputy Environment Minister Ilias Efthymiopoulos.

[06] Greek stocks plunge on lack of buying interest

Equity prices plunged to their lowest levels since mid-January 1999 on the Athens Stock Exchange on Monday, hit by a general lack of buying interest and market disappointment that expectations of foreign institutional capital inflows in the Greek bourse, after its upgrading into a developed market two weeks ago, failed to materialise.

Traders said the majority of investors remained sidelined worried over talk of "speculative pressures" in the market, new judiciary interventions and closing of open-end positions by securities firms ahead of the introduction of a margin account trading system.

Analysts said the market would find support at the 2,880-2,830 level.

The general index ended 2.85 percent lower at 2,876.76 points, near its day's lows of 2,873.52 points, for a net loss of 6.86 percent from the Greek market's official upgrading on June 1.

Turnover was a disappointing 118.77 million euros, or 40.47 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 1,684.74 points, off 2.84 percent, the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 2.38 percent to 322.92 points, and the FTSE/ASE SMALLCAP 80 index ended at 898.88 points, down 3.78 percent.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 268.30 points, off 3.37 percent.

[07] Olympic - FYROM - Flight cancelled

Olympic Aviation on Monday cancelled its scheduled midday flight from Athens to Skopje due to the "explosive situation" in the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), a company announcement stated.

OA said the flight was cancelled for "precautionary reasons".

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