Athens News Agency: News in English, 03-10-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] National Bank, Piraeus Bank announce equity sale plans

[02] Greek elected president of European Court of Justice

[03] Greek Culture Foundation to present photography exhibition in London

[04] International Olympic Sports Sciences Conference begins in Athens

[05] President to inaugurate ''Outlook'' art event

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

[07] Weather Forecast: Sunny start followed by rain on Wednesday

[08] Greek stocks end 1.74 pct lower on Tuesday

[01] National Bank, Piraeus Bank announce equity sale plans

Two large Greek banks, National Bank and Bank of Piraeus, on Tuesday announced plans to sell minority equity stakes to institutional investors.

The Greek government on Tuesday announced the sale of a 10 percent equity stake in National Bank, a stake owned by the Public Securities Enterprise, to institutional investors in Greece and abroad.

The long-awaited sale will be made through an accelerated book building process. Under the plan, National Bank will transfer its 10 percent equity stake to Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Merrill Lynch International in an out-of-the-market transaction with the aim to offer its shares to domestic or foreign institutional investors through one or more stock market transactions using these two investment banks.

Also on Tuesday, Bank of Piraeus announced a plan to sell a 6.7 of its equity stake, or 11.2 million shares, to institutional investors using the same method as National Bank, through an accelerated book building.

A bank statement said the transaction would allow Bank of Piraeus to further internationalise its equity base and to strengthen its capital structure.

[02] Greek elected president of European Court of Justice

Greek justice Vassilis Skouris was on Tuesday elected president of the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of European Communities until October 6, 2006, replacing previous president Gil Carlos Rodriguez Iglesias, who had held the post since 1994.

Skouris was elected president by the judges and advocates general in the Court, whose members were partially renewed on Monday.

His election was welcomed by the Greek government, whose spokesman Christos Protopapas expressed Athens' satisfaction and said that the election reflected the image and acceptance enjoyed by Greece and distinguished Greeks in the international community.

[03] Greek Culture Foundation to present photography exhibition in London

The Greek Culture Foundation and the College of London University will present an exhibition by Socrates Mavrommatis entitled ''Photographs of the Acropolis of Athens-The Restoration Programme of 1975-2003'' from October 15 to December 12 on the College's premises.

The photography exhibition registers the process of the restoration of the Acropolis, an effort that began 25 years ago.

The photographs of Mavrommatis succeeded in depicting the loyalty of all who worked for the restoration programme and promoting the splendour of this excellent specimen of Greek culture.

[04] International Olympic Sports Sciences Conference begins in Athens

The 7th International Olympic Sports Sciences Conference began at a downtown Athens hotel on Tuesday, while scientists from all over the world will be called on to answer the question of whether genes determine Olympic Games medallists and world champions and contribute to an improvement in sports performances.

The event is jointly organised by the Athens 2004 Organising Committee and the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Medical Committee.

Another main issue to be raised during the conference is the prevention of injuries and other illnesses affecting athletes of all sports.

Famous heart surgery professor Sir Magdi Yacoub will also be among the 1,000 accomplished scientists participating in the conference. Yacoub, who has declared himself a volunteer for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, will be making an address on Friday on the issue of the ''Sports Heart.''

The conference was inaugurated by Athens 2004 Organising Committee President Gianna Angelopoulos Daskalaki.

[05] President to inaugurate ''Outlook'' art event

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos will inaugurate the ''Outlook'' art event on Oct. 24 , Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said on Tuesday, during a press conference in Athens.

The minister underlined that 200 works of 85 artists from around the world, 11 from Greece, will be included in this major international art event, which will be organized in Greece for the first time.

[06] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank

U.S. dollar 1.186

Pound sterling 0.710

Danish kroner 7.488

Swedish kroner 9.039

Japanese yen 130.9

Swiss franc 1.561

Norwegian kroner 8.268

Cyprus pound 0.589

Canadian dollar 1.584

Australian dollar 1.720

[07] Weather Forecast: Sunny start followed by rain on Wednesday

Most parts of the country will see sunshine at the start of the day, gradually turning to cloud, rain and storms from the west in the afternoon. Snow is expected on mountain peaks in the north. Winds variable, strong to very strong, turning gale force at sea. In the north, temperatures will range from 10C to 20C; on the rest of the mainland from 16C to 25C; and in the Aegean islands from 17C to 27C. Temperatures in Athens between 17C and 25C; and in Thessaloniki from 13C to 20C.

[08] Greek stocks end 1.74 pct lower on Tuesday

A negative climate in other European stock markets combined with a decision to sell a 10 percent equity stake, owned by the Greek state, in National Bank of Greece undermined sentiment in the Athens Stock Exchange pushing share prices lower on Tuesday.

The general index ended 1.74 percent lower at 2,093.57 points with turnover a heavy 167.9 million euros.

All sector indices ended lower with the Publication (3.09 percent), IT Solution (2.95 percent) and Insurance (2.85 percent) sectors suffering the heaviest percentage losses of the day.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks dropped 2.09 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index eased 1.80 percent and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index ended 2.23 percent lower.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 287 to 40 with another 30 issues unchanged.

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