Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-11-28

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

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

CONTENTS

[01] ''European Prospect of Balkan Countries'' conference to open in Athens

[02] Taxi strike to end at 0500 Friday

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[04] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday

[05] Greek stocks move in positive territory on Thursday

[01] ''European Prospect of Balkan Countries'' conference to open in Athens on Friday

The Balkan Political Club (BPC) in cooperation with the Hellenic Foundation of Defence and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) are organizing a two-day international conference on ''The European Prospect of the Balkan Countries'', in Athens.

Foreign Minister George Papandreou will inaugurate the conference on Friday, initiating discussions on the EU policy in relation to the Balkans and the hopes of the region's countries, the challenges stemming from enlargement and the prospects of cooperation.

Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, former Turkish President Suleiman Demirel, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) former president Kiro Gligorov, Romania's former president Emil Constantinescu will be among the many notable guests from throughout the region.

[02] Taxi strike to end at 0500 Friday

Taxi owners are to end a 48-hour strike at 0500 hours on Friday but may stage a new walkout next week if demands to the government are not met, their union said in a statement.

The SATA union said on Thursday that it had called the strike to press for a rise in the base tariff, and to protest against the introduction of new bus lanes, from which taxis are barred.

Members staged a protest rally in central Athens on Thursday and a protest march along selected bus lanes, SATA said in a statement.

Athens has about 14,500 taxis.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.001

Pound sterling 0.644

Danish kroner 7.485

Swedish kroner 9.137

Japanese yen 122.3

Swiss franc 1.486

Norwegian kroner 7.346

Cyprus pound 0.577

Canadian dollar 1.575

Australian dollar 1.794

[04] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday

Sunny weather is forecast in most parts of the country, with rain and storms mainly in the southeast island region. Winds east-northeasterly, light to strong. In the north, temperatures will range from 04C to 17C; in the west from 07C to 19C; and in the rest of the country from 11C to 18C. Temperatures in Athens between 10C and 18C; and in Thessaloniki from 08C to 17C.

[05] Greek stocks move in positive territory on Thursday

Greek stocks ended Thursday's session slightly higher on the Athens Stock Exchange with a rebound in Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation's share price (+3.02 percent), partly offset by a decline in National Bank's share price (-1.10 percent), limiting the market's advance.

The general index ended 0.59 percent higher at 1,880.31 points, with turnover an improved 136.4 million euros.

The Publication, Telecommunication and Base Metals sectors scored the biggest percentage gains of the day (3.25 percent, 1.25 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively), while the Holdings, IT Solution and Retail sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (0.50 percent, 0.43 percent and 0.24 percent).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.46 percent higher, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index rose 1.18 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index fell 0.23 percent.

Broadly, advancers led decliners by 193 to 117 with another 57 issues unchanged.

Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article