Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-07-13

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

CONTENTS

[01] Two Polls - Parties - Support

[02] Mobile Phones-Licences-Minister

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates-Friday

[04] Bond Market-Close

[05] Merrill Lynch-National Bank-Alpha Bank-Forecast

[06] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Friday

[07] Greek stocks reverse decline, end 2.89 percent higher

[01] Two Polls - Parties - Support

Main opposition New Democracy leads ruling PASOK in voters preferences, results of two polls released this week apparently showed.

Specifically, a poll conducted by the V-PRC firm gives ND an 11-point lead over PASOK (35.3 percent to 23.9), while ND leader Costas Karamanlis garnered 41.4 percent to Prime Minister Costas Simitis 31.3 percent on the question of who is better suited to govern.

The V-PRC poll was published in the Athens daily ?Ta Nea?.

Meanwhile, a poll conducted by the Metron Analysis firm put the difference between ND and PASOK at 7.4 percent -- 36.4 for the main opposition party to 29 percent for PASOK.

Results of the same survey gave Karamanlis a slight edge over Simitis on the question of who could best govern as premier 32.1 for the former and 31.9 for the latter.

A private television station unveiled the polls results.

Asked which party they believe will win the next election, 58.6 percent of respondents answered ND, to 23.3 percent for PASOK.

In terms of the other parties, the newly formed Movement of Free Citizens (KEP) party established by Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos earned a 7.4-percent approval from respondents; 5.3 for the Communist Party of Greece (KKE); 3.7 for Synaspismos and 1.9 percent for DHKKI.

[02] Mobile Phones-Licences-Minister

Transport and Communications Minister Christos Verelis on Thursday welcomed the successful sale by tender of government licences for the operation of a third generation mobile phone network.

The country's three existing mobile operators all submitted valid offers in the tender, which will bring the government around 150 billion drachmas in revenue, Verelis told reporters.

In the tender, which was called by the National Commission for Telecoms and Post Offices, Panafon and Cosmote each bid 50,000,019,400 billion drachmas for the permits and Stet Hellas 50,000,008,837 billion drachmas.

The third generation services will be available to the public in 2003.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates-Friday

Buying rates for Friday

U.S. dollar 395.898

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 556.781

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 45.418

Swedish kroner 36.495

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 318.398

Swiss franc 223.296

Norwegian kroner 042.444

Cyprus pound 588.768

Canadian dollar 259.540

Australian dollar 199.689

[04] Bond Market-Close

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Thursday finished mixed in heavy trade.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 5.55 percent, and the yield spread over German bunds was 47 basis points.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totalled 1.1 billion euros (381.0 billion drachmas).

Buy orders accounted for around half of turnover.

[05] Merrill Lynch-National Bank-Alpha Bank-Forecast

Merrill Lynch, an international investment house, on Thursday corrected its forecasts on Greek banks for the second straight day, producing an upward revision of price targets.

The target price for blue chip National Bank of Greece was raised to 28.7 euros from 26.3 euros in a market report released on Tuesday; and for blue chip Alpha Bank to 21.3 euros from 20.0 euros in the same analysis.

In its correction, Merrill kept its recommendation for a smaller position in the two banks unchanged from the previous day.

The investment house's report on National, Alpha and Commercial Bank of Greece had driven down their share prices on Tuesday, also taking the Athens bourse's general index lower.

On Wednesday, Merrill Lynch partly corrected a forecast on the performance of Commercial Bank of Greece following a complaint by the bank's governor that the calculation was faulty.

In the revision, Merrill Lynch upped the target price for Commercial to 32.5 euros from 29.7 euros on Tuesday, keeping its recommendation for a smaller position in the state bank unchanged from the previous day.

Commercial's president, Yiannis Stournaras, said Merrill's forecasts on profit margins and share price were based on inaccurate calculations, confusing the number of shares with that of Alpha Bank.

Stournaras told reporters after the revision that even using Merrill's method of calculation and on the basis of real financial data, the target price should have been 42.34 euros.

[06] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Friday

Sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Friday, with scattered cloud on the northern mainland from late afternoon. Winds northerly, light to strong, turning very strong in parts of the Aegean. On the mainland, temperatures will range from 18C to 35C; in the Ionian from 20C to 32C; and in the Aegean islands from 22C to 31C. Sunshine in Athens with temperatures between 22C and 35C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 20C to 33C.

[07] Greek stocks reverse decline, end 2.89 percent higher

Equity prices rebounded spectacularily on the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, helped by the reappearance of buyers in the market after six sessions of heavy losses.

Traders said buying activity focused in blue chip stocks and noted that an improved climate in international markets also boosted sentiment.

The general index ended 2.89 percent higher at 2,506.02 points, with turnover an improved 125 million euros, or 42.6 billion drachmas.

The food and beverage index soared 6.06 percent, while the construction and IT indices ended 4.42 percent and 4.12 percent higher, respectively.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 2.96 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 2.69 percent and the FTSE/ASE SMALLCAP index increased 2.58 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 314 to 22 with another 24 issues unchanged.

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