Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-10-30

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

CONTENTS

[01] Bond Market Close: Prices rise in brisk trade

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[03] Weather Forecast: Cloudy on Wednesday

[04] Anthrax prevention measures flier released by Greek Parliament

[05] Olympiakos player freed; stolen check incident scrutinised

[06] New press minister to meet with journalists trade unions

[07] Olympics a top priority for Athens, PM says

[08] Greek stocks end off lows on Tuesday

[09] Piraeus Bank buys ETBAbank for Dr 173 billion

[01] Bond Market Close: Prices rise in brisk trade

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market on Tuesday finished higher in heavy trade focusing on 10-year paper.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 4.89 percent, and the yield spread over German bunds was 41 basis points.

Turnover through the central bank's electronic system totalled 1.1 billion euros.

Buy orders accounted for the bulk of turnover.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Indicative tourist buying rates until Wednesday

U.S. dollar 372.934

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 542.396

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 045.430

Swedish kroner 035.272

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 306.127

Swiss franc 229.894

Norwegian kroner 042.388

Cyprus pound 588.901

Canadian dollar 236.697

Australian dollar 189.727

[03] Weather Forecast: Cloudy on Wednesday

Sunny weather is forecast for most parts of the country on Wednesday. Winds northerly, moderate. In the north, temperatures will range from 4C to 21C; in the west from 8C to 25C; and in the rest of the country from 13C to 22C. Sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 10C and 24C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 7C to 20C.

[04] Anthrax prevention measures flier released by Greek Parliament

The healthcare services of the Greek Parliament on Tuesday disseminated a flier containing advice on handling the possibility of anthrax infection for the employees and journalists working in the Parliament building.

The flier includes information provided by the center for special contagious disease control, which can be found at the internet address www.keel.org.gr and aims at helping citizens maintain their calm, in face of recent developments.

One of the basic focuses of the flier is its notation that anthrax is not contracted from another person who has the disease and that it can be remedied in its early stages by existing medication.

The flier also provided information on how to handle possible means of infection from mail, stamps or other means of spreading the disease.

[05] Olympiakos player freed; stolen check incident scrutinised

Olympiakos Piraeus' Liberian striker Zizi Roberts was released from custody without bond on Tuesday, one day after he was arrested inside a northern Athens bank on charges related to a stolen check.

The incident comes one day before league-leading Olympiakos plays its "swan-song" match for the first round of Champions League play. The Piraeus club failed to qualify for the next round but desperately needs a win on Wednesday evening against visiting Deportivo Coruna to qualify for the UEFA tournament.

Roberts, 23, was arrested by police while attempting to cash a stolen check sporting a face value of 25 million drachmas (around 73,000 euros).

The Liberian international told authorities the check -- reported stolen in June -- was given to him by the management of another Athens football club -- Panionios -- to cover payments owed to him. Roberts was traded last season from Panionios, one of the weaker teams in the Greek first division, to Olympiakos.

Conversely, Panionios' Achilleas Beos initially denied Roberts' claim that he personally gave him the stolen check, whereas on Tuesday he told a Piraeus misdemeanor court that the matter would be resolved in "three to four days".

[06] New press minister to meet with journalists trade unions

Newly appointed Press and Media Minister Christos Protopapas will meet with representatives of journalists trade unions on Wednesday and Friday.

On Wednesday, he will meet with the presidium of the Foreign Press Association and later in the day he will visit the headquarters of the Athens Journalists Union (ESHEA), while on Friday he will participate in a conference organised by National Federation of Journalists Unions (POESY).

[07] Olympics a top priority for Athens, PM says

Reaffirming Greece's commitment to hosting a successful Olympiad in 2004, Prime Minister Costas Simitis reiterated on Tuesday that the Athens Olympics were a "top priority" for the government, before announcing changes in the operation of a high-level committee monitoring preparations for the Games.

The changes upgrade the role of the culture ministry in the operation of the government's Olympics committee, in which all ministers involved in Olympics preparations participate.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the committee and all officials involved, including the head of the Athens 2004 Olympics Organising Committee (ATHOC) Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, at the prime minister's official residence.

[08] Greek stocks end off lows on Tuesday

A wave of selective blue chip stocks buying by institutional investors in the last hour of trading partly reversed an earlier sharp decline of prices on the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesdsay.

The general index ended 0.25 percent lower at 2,382.73 points, off the day's lows, with turnover remaining at disappointing low levels of 27 billion drachmas or 79.3 million euros.

The Textiles and Cement sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (1.76 percent and 1.27 percent, respectively), while the Retail and Telecoms sectors scored gains (0.46 percent and 0.36 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.39 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 0.74 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 0.81 percent down.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 238 to 74 with another 42 issues unchanged.

[09] Piraeus Bank buys ETBAbank for Dr 173 billion

Economy and Finance Minister Nikos Christodoulakis on Tuesday announced that Piraeus Bank has won a tender to buy ETBAbank for 173 billion drachmas in cash, or 5.10 euros per share.

Christodoulakis said that Piraeus' offer was the best and that it ensured ETBAbank's employees' rights.

Speaking to reporters, Economy and Finance Minister said the government's top priority aim was to attract foreign investments.

Christodoulakis said the government would activate all existing mechanisms and create new ones in order to speed-up and simplify procedures to deregulate domestic markets

"Foreign investments are easier to attract if there are large and modern enterprises," he said.

Unveiling the axis on which the government will seek economic stability and development, Christodoulakis said they were: fiscal discipline and privatisations.

He said he expected the government's privatisation package would be completed in 2002 and left the door open to more privatisations, depending on the condition in international markets. "The programme of privatisations and structural changes never ends. It expands continuously."

Christodoulakis also said that the country needed a new development law. "Conditions have changed and borrowing terms are new so we need a development bill that will shift to another direction and re-examine existing incentives. The evaluation of investment must be made with the cooperation of banks," he said.

Absorbing funds from a Third Community Support Framework was also an important factor in seeking growth, Christodoulakis said.

Economy and Finance Minister announced that a tender to sell Olympic Airways could be completed in the next two weeks.

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