Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-05-23

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

CONTENTS

[01] Czech prime minister-Greece-Visit

[02] Foreign Exchange Market-Close

[03] Secondary bond market - report

[04] U.S. embassy-Memorial Day

[05] Greece-Middle East-Meeting

[06] CD-Media-1999 results

[07] Bond auction-results

[08] ADEX-close

[09] ASE-close

[10] Dynamic Mix - Aegean - NATO

[01] Czech prime minister-Greece-Visit

Milos Zeman, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, will arrive in Athens on Thursday on a three-day official visit.

Zeman will hold talks with the President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos, Prime Minister Costas Simitis and political party leaders. He will also tour archaeological sites in Athens and Crete, where he will arrive on Friday.

[02] Foreign Exchange Market-Close

The drachma on Tuesday fell against the euro and recovered slightly versus the US dollar in the domestic foreign exchange market.

The central bank's daily fixing, the euro was set at 336.960 drachmas and the US dollar at 370.260 drachmas.

[03] Secondary bond market - report

Bond prices in the domestic secondary market ended slightly lower in light trade on Tuesday with players across Europe awaiting a European Central Bank meeting on Thursday that may order a rate hike to aid the slumping euro.

The Greek benchmark 10-year bond showed a yield of 6.24 percent from 6.282 percent in the previous session.

[04] U.S. embassy-Memorial Day

The U.S. embassy in Athens announced on Tuesday that its offices, including the consular section, the U.S. consulate in Thessaloniki and all U.S. government offices in Greece will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day, a U.S. national holiday.

[05] Greece-Middle East-Meeting

Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Tuesday inaugurated in Athens the United Nations International Meeting in Support of a Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Establishment of Peace in the Middle East.

[06] CD-Media-1999 results

CD-Media, a software company and member of Pouliades Group, on Tuesday announced a 73 percent rise in 1999 pre-tax profits to 210 million drachmas and a 31 percent increase in turnover to 2.6 billion drachmas.

The company expects this year's sales to rise by 30 percent and profits up by 60 percent.

CD-Media has already filed an application for listing on the parallel market of smaller capitalisation stocks in the Athens Stock Exchange.

[07] Bond auction-results

Long-term yields rose moderately during a weekly regular state securities' auction by the Public Debt Management Organisation on Tuesday.

The average weighed yield of a five-year bond, worth 200 billion drachmas, rose to 6.35 percent from 6.04 percent in the previous auction of same bonds on March 21, reflecting pressures in the eurozone market.

Bids submitted totalled 370 billion drachmas, 1.85 times more than the asked sum, a sign of continued interest for Greek debt. The organisation finally accepted bids totalling 224 billion drachmas.

The auction was a re-opening of a March 24, 2000 issue paying an annual fixed coupon of 5.95 percent. Its average weighed price was sete at 98.342 points.

[08] ADEX-close

Derivatives prices moved higher on the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Tuesday despite falls in the two benchmark indices, FTSE/ASE 20 and FTSE/ASE 40, reflecting confidence over the medium-term outlook of the Greek market.

Turnover was a moderate 9.1 billion drachmas in volume of 2,960 contracts.

A total of 612 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 20 index, worth 3 billion drachmas. The June expiring contract ended at 2,565 points and the July at 2,562 points.

A total of 2,348 futures contracts were traded on the FTSE/ASE 40 index, with a turnover of 6.1 billion drachmas. The June expiring contract ended at 672.75 points, the July at 662.75 and the August contract at 658.50 points.

[09] ASE-close

Equity prices continued moving lower for the second consecutive session on the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday, although at a more slower pace than Monday.

Dealers said a spectacular recovery in international markets helped sentiment in the Greek bourse which was currently on a correction course.

Analysts said that the 4,650 support level resisted pressures throughout the day. The general index ended at 4,672.23 points, off 0.42 percent, but off the day's lows of 4,612.91 points. Turnover was a moderate 220.1 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.20 percent lower at 2,573.33 points and the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 1.65 percent to 685.20 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 979.43 points, off 2.77 percent.

[10] Dynamic Mix - Aegean - NATO

The aeronautical part of the major NATO exercise ?Dynamic Mix? began over much of the Aegean on Tuesday.

Specifically, several alliance warships that had gathered in the Asia Minor port city of Izmir over the weekend have deployed in the central Aegean. Other NATO naval units that docked at the Souda anchorage on Crete have departed for training missions in the southern Aegean, while the Ionian Sea is their projected destination.

Finally, in response to recent reports in the local press, sources at the countrys general staff headquarters stressed on Tuesday that the entire exercise is being conducted according to the Greek militarys specifications and planning. The same sources also pointed at a recent statement by the Greek defence minister, namely, that any NATO aircraft not submitting a pre-arranged flight plan with Greek authorities would be intercepted.

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