Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-07-31

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

CONTENTS

[01] Costa-Gavras to participate in the Cultural Olympiad

[02] Public Gas Enterprise, Edison Gas sign natgas memo

[03] Athens bourse falls 5.47 pct in July vs June

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates -Thursday

[05] Weather Forecast: Thursday to start sunny

[06] ASE ends lower on profit taking

[01] Costa-Gavras to participate in the Cultural Olympiad

Exiting a meeting with Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Wednesday, renowned director Costa-Gavras, announced his participation in the Cultural Olympiad, a major event for Greece.

In collaboration with the American Ballet Theater, Costa-Gavras will direct a big performance with a Greek and ecumenical character at the New York City Opera, which will in continuation be staged in Greece with the participation of opera singer Agni Baltsa, and singer Giorgos Dalaras.

Venizelos said that Costa-Gavras had accepted his proposal for participating in the ''KOTINOS'' Prizes International Committee, whose remaining members will be announced after the end of the summer.

''He is Greece's cultural ambassador to the world'' the culture minister said referring to Costa-Gavras, who on his part did not make any efforts to hide his excitement over the government's proposal.

[02] Public Gas Enterprise, Edison Gas sign natgas memo

The Public Gas Enterprise and Edison Gas of Italy on Wednesday signed a memorandum of cooperation for the transportation of natural gas from central Asia to western Europe through Turkey, Greece and Italy.

Under the plan, an undersea pipeline is to be built between Greece and Italy to transport the fuel.

The two companies plan to conduct preliminary studies in 2002, leading to a feasibility study for the pipeline that is due for completion by March 2003, industry sources said on Tuesday.

Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos said after the agreement was signed that Greece and Thessaloniki, the country's second city, would become a European hub for natural gas and electricity.

[03] Athens bourse falls 5.47 pct in July vs June

The general index of the Athens Stock Exchange fell by 5.47 percent month on month in thin, nervous, volatile trade, adversely affected by bear markets abroad and a push by institutionals for short-term gains.

In the last two sessions of the month, the bourse appeared to consolidate around 2,100 points after showing a solid support level at 2,000 points earlier in the month.

In July, the FTSE/ASE-20 index for heavily traded stocks and blue chips shed 7.43 percent; the FTSE/ASE-40 for medium capitalisation stocks lost 6.16 percent; and the FTSE/ASE-80 for small cap paper fell by 9.04 percent.

The market closed at 2,115.39 points in July, down 18.37 percent from the beginning of the year

Turnover in July was 2,419.458 million euros with 511 million euros of the total representing a transfer of 19 percent of stock in the Football Pools Organisation.

[04] Foreign Exchange Rates -Thursday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 0.986

Pound sterling 0.631

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.318

Japanese yen 118.3

Swiss franc 1.466

Norwegian kroner 7.486

Cyprus pound 0.579

Canadian dollar 1.558

Australian dollar 1.802

[05] Weather Forecast: Thursday to start sunny

The day will start sunny, turning to scattered cloud and probably isolated storms from late afternoon. Winds variable, light. The temperature will range from 22C to 32C. Temperatures in Athens between 22C and 32C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 19C to 30C.

[06] ASE ends lower on profit taking

Greek stocks succumbed to profit-taking selling on Wednesday to end lower in the Athens Stock Exchange.

The general index ended 0.47 percent down to 2,115.39 after spending the biggest part of the session in positive ground.

Turnover was a low 95.5 million euros.

The Construction, Holding and IT Solutions sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of teh day (2.41 percent, 1.16 percent and 1.08 percent, respectively), while the Textile, Food-Beverage and Telecommunications sectors scored the biggest percentage gains (1.72 percent, 1.71 percent and 0.71 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks eased 0.47 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index dropped 0.93 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index fell 0.62 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 193 to 132 with another 37 issues unchanged.

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