Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-07-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] EU okays state subsidy for Greek polypropylene plant

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Thursday

[03] Bond Market Close: Bond prices nose up

[04] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Thursday

[05] Exhibition of organic produce in October

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks stay perky for second session

[07] First Greek anti-globalisation protestors leave for Genoa

[08] Indicative fuel prices: international trends push prices down

[01] EU okays state subsidy for Greek polypropylene plant

BRUSSELS (ANA/M.Spinthourakis) - The European Union on Wednesday approved the award of a state investment subsidy to Hellenic Petroleum SA for the construction of a polypropylene plant.

The government will contribute 38 million euros to the project, which is budgeted at 117 million euros, in a subsidy classified as support for a private investment that will boost economic and regional development.

The plant to be built by state owned Hellenic Petroleum, a heavily traded stock on the Athens bourse, includes units for the output of two types of polypropylene.

It will be the country's first polypropylene plant.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Thursday

Indicative buying rates for Thursday

U.S. dollar 391.666

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 551.696

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 45.392

Swedish kroner 36.616

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 313.564

Swiss franc 224.754

Norwegian kroner 042.213

Cyprus pound 588.768

Canadian dollar 255.262

Australian dollar 200.088

[03] Bond Market Close: Bond prices nose up

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Wednesday finished higher in moderate trade.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 5.52 percent, and the yield spread over German bunds was 48 basis points.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totalled 770 million euros (262.3 billion drachmas).

Buy orders accounted for the bulk of turnover.

[04] Weather Forecast: Sunshine on Thursday

Hot, sunny weather is forecast throughout the country on Thursday. Winds north-northwesterly, moderate to strong. In the Ionian, temperatures will range from 21C to 34C; on the mainland from 19C to 37C; and in the Aegean islands from 25C to 32C. Sunshine in Athens with temperatures between 24C and 35C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 24C to 35C.

[05] Exhibition of organic produce in October

An exhibition of organically grown produce will be held in Athens on October 4-7, arranged by Dio, a certification agency in the sector.

Among the exhibitors are farmers, transporters, importers, retailers, livestock breeders and environmental groups.

Seminars and presentations will also be held.

[06] Athens Bourse Close: Stocks stay perky for second session

Equities on the Athens bourse jumped on Wednesday, gaining momentum for a second straight session and recouping their losses from a plunge two days ago, analysts said.

Buyers returned to high capitalisation paper, including blue chip banks, after fighting shy of quality stocks for two sessions, driving up prices across the board, the analysts said.

The Athens general index closed at 2,452.59 points after a slow start to gain 4.54 percent. Turnover was slightly higher at 106.3 million euros (36.2 billion drachmas).

The FTSE/ASE-20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks ended 4.89 percent higher; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation paper 4.15 percent up; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap equities gained 3.47 percent.

Advancers led decliners at 337 to 15 with 11 issues remaining unchanged.

The most heavily traded stocks were Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation, National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank, Sex Form and Commercial Bank of Greece.

On Monday the bourse had shed nearly five percent as part of a lasting slump after buyers resolutely stayed out of the market with small capitalisation shares the worst hit. Stocks picked up steam on Tuesday in low turnover.

Sector indices ended as follows:

Banks: +4.97%

Telecoms: +3.89%

Insurance: +0.74%

Investment: +5.00%

Construction: +6.38%

Industrials: +4.07%

Holding: +6.64%

Base metals: +3.37%

Minerals: +3.41%

Publishing: +4.61%

Textiles: +3.35%

Retailing: +2.93%

IT: +6.27%

IT solutions: +3.79%

Wholesale: +3.85%

Food & Beverage: +4.45%

Parallel Market for smaller cap stocks: +3.06%

Selected shares from the Morgan Stanley index closed as follows:

Aluminium de Grece: 30.30

Alpha Bank: 21.45

Coca Cola HBC: 14.38

Hellenic Petroleum: 5.92

Commercial Bank of Greece: 34.56

National Bank of Greece: 28.58

EFG Eurobank Ergasias: 13.90

Interamerican: 20.00

Intracom: 13.12

Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation: 15.06

Panafon-Vodafone: 5.38

Titan Cement Co: 33.64

[07] First Greek anti-globalisation protestors leave for Genoa

The first 900 anti-globalisation protestors from Greece left for Genoa without incident on Wednesday on board two ferries from Patras port bound for Ancona.

Prior to their departure and under discreet security, the group staged a small anti-globalisation demonstration within the port itself, which did not cause any problems.

Another large group of protestors taking part in the 'Genoa 2001' initiative, which plans to stage anti-globalisation protests during a G8 meeting in the city, is due to leave by boat on Thursday, while members of the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and KKE-affiliated trade union group PAME are expected to depart for Genoa on Friday.

It is estimated that some 2,500 Greek protestors will make their way to Genoa in total.

[08] Indicative fuel prices: international trends push prices down

Suggested retail fuel prices for the coming week fell again on Wednesday in response to international downward trends.

Specifically, prices for super petrol fell by 4.2 drachmas per litre and for unleaded petrol by 4.3 drachmas per litre, diesel fell by 5.7 drachmas per litre, and out-of-season heating oil fell by 5.6 drachmas per litre.

In greater Athens and the Thessaloniki prefecture, indicative prices for super were set at 245.5 drachmas per litre; 231.6 for unleaded; 207.1 for diesel and 202 drachmas per litre for heating oil.

The government announces indicative prices every Wednesday, effective for one week, although deviations in actual market prices sometimes vary from five to 15 drachmas per litre.

(The fixed exchange rate for drachmas/euros is 340.750 drachmas per euro)

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