Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-08-27

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

CONTENTS

[01] Three suitors for Hellenic Petroleum

[02] Foreign exchange rates - Tuesday

[03] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Tuesday

[04] Greek stocks rise sharply on ASE

[01] Three suitors for Hellenic Petroleum

Three companies on Monday expressed interest in a tender to find a strategic partner for Hellenic Petroleum SA that will take the firm, a heavily traded stock on the Athens bourse, into the private sector.

The firms or consortiums to express interest were the Latsis Group with Lukoil of Russia; OMV Aktiengesellschaft of Austria; and Yukos Oil Company of Russia, the tender's consultants said in a statement.

The Latsis energy, banking and shipping group expressed interest through its subsidiary Paneuropean Oil & Industrial Holding SA, the main shareholder of Athens-quoted Petrola Hellas.

Latsis holds a one-third stake in the consortium. Lukoil, Russia's largest oil producer, has the remaining two thirds.

The government wants to privatise a majority holding in Hellenic Petroleum, relinquishing control of the energy group to private owners. The floor for its stake in the company will drop to 35 percent from 75 percent, if the tender is successful.

The General Confederation of Labour of Greece, the country's largest trade union umbrella group, has called on the government to scrap its plan to sell the new 15-30 percent stake in the firm.

Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis has said that the shares will be sold to a strategic investor in the same sector, allowing Hellenic Petroleum to go global and reinforce its presence in the Balkans.

Advising the government in the tender are UBS Warburg, National Bank of Greece and the National Investment Bank for Industrial Development.

[02] Foreign exchange rates - Tuesday

Indicative buying rates

U.S. dollar 371.876

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 535.947

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 45.407

Swedish kroner 36.025

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 309.603

Swiss franc 222.465

Norwegian kroner 041.819

Cyprus pound 590.186

Canadian dollar 241.290

Australian dollar 196.171

[03] Weather Forecast: Sunny on Tuesday

Sunshine is forecast in all parts of the country on Tuesday, with scattered cloud on the mainland from early evening. Winds northerly, light to moderate, turning strong in the southeastern Aegean. On the mainland, temperatures will range from 18C to 35C; and in the islands from 22C to 33C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 23C and 34C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 21C to 33C.

[04] Greek stocks rise sharply on ASE

Equity prices rose strongly on the Athens Stock Exchange on Monday pushing the general index well above the 2,700 level, reflecting a dramatic change in market sentiment with analysts predicting that the market would soon test the 2,800 resistance level.

Strong buying for blue chip and smaller capitalisation stocks helped the market's recovery while encouraging signs from international markets also boosted sentiment on the Athens bourse.

The general index ended 1.58 percent higher at 2,787.38 points, off the day's highs of 2,796.23 points. Turnover was an improved 154.53 million euros, or 52.66 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 1,551.19 points, up 1.86 percent, the FTSE/ASE 40 index ended 1.15 percent higher at 319.58 points, and the FTSE/ASE SMALLCAP 80 index ended at 934.89 points, up 1.83 percent.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 276.67 points, up 2.32 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 289 to 42 with another 29 issues unchanged.

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