Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-11-03

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

CONTENTS

[01] Yugoslavia-Development Minister-Belgrade Visit

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

[03] Weather Forecast-Saturday

[04] Nireus-international award

[05] National Bank-results

[06] Aspis Bank-results

[07] Greece-Philoxenia-tourism

[08] Panafon-business communication

[09] ASE-close

[10] ADEX-close

[11] Greece-foreign exchange

[01] Yugoslavia-Development Minister-Belgrade Visit

BELGRADE (ANA - M. Mouratidis) - Greek Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis will visit Belgrade and Novi Sad on Monday for talks with government and economic officials.

Christodoulakis, heading a Greek delegation, will also meet with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and other senior officials.

The Greek delegation will visit refineries at Novi Sad.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates-Monday

Indicative rates released by the central bank for the next working day.

Monday's rates (buying)

Euro 337.171

U.S. dollar 386.334

German mark 172.393

French franc 051.401

Pound sterling 560.341

Irish punt 428.118

Belgian franc 008.358

Luxembourg franc 008.358

Dutch guilder 153.001

Italian lira (100) 017.414

Austrian schilling 024.503

Danish kroner 045.261

Swedish kroner 039.480

Finnish mark 056.708

Spanish peseta 002.027

Portuguese escudo 001.681

Japanese yen (100) 358.340

Swiss franc 220.184

Norwegian kroner 042.210

Cyprus pound 588.573

Canadian dollar 251.968

Australian dollar 204.803

[03] Weather Forecast-Saturday

Scattered cloud is forecast throughout the country on Saturday, turning to rain or storms in the northwest. Limited visibility early in the morning. Winds southerly, light to moderate. Temperatures in the north will range from 9C to 22C; and in the rest of the country from 13C to 25C. Hot and humid in Athens, with temperatures between 16C and 25C. Scattered cloud in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 13C to 22C.

[04] Nireus-international award

Nireus, a listed Greek acquaculture company, was awarded the "Sial d'or" award at the SIAL international food and beverages trade fair in Paris.

The award is offered every two years to innovative products in the food and beverages sector. Nireus's awarded "sea delicacies" are exported to Cyprus, France, Germany, Finland and Australia.

Nireus' board called for an extraordinary general shareholders' meeting November 24 to approve a plan for the buy-back of shares up to 10 percent.

[05] National Bank-results

National Bank of Greece Group on Friday reported a 12 percent increase in its nine-month net pre-tax profits to 210 billion drachmas.

The bank's pre tax profits totalled 181 billion drachmas, up 24 percent from the same period in 1999.

Net lending rose 31 percent, or 32 percent for the group, with deposits totalling 14.7 trillion drachmas, up 20 percent from the nine-month period last year.

Financial transactions's revenues totalled 124 billion drachmas in the January-September period.

National Bank's net interest marging was set at 2.4 percent in the first nine months of 2000, down from 2.6 percent last year, reflecting a more speedier fall in state securities' interest rates in comparison with funding costs.

National Bank is the largest commercial bank in Greece with a network of 610 branches and more than 1,000 ATMs around the country. The bank, and its affiliates, operate a network of 318 branches in 18 countries around the world.

[06] Aspis Bank-results

Aspis Bank on Friday reported a 109 million drachmas loss in the first nine months of the year compared with the same period in 1999.

A bank statement attributed the negative results to a high cost, exceeding 3.5 billion drachmas, of restrictive credit measures imposed by the Bank of Greece in the country's banking system in an effort to contain inflation.

Aspis Bank operates a network of 25 branches in Greece.

[07] Greece-Philoxenia-tourism

Greece will host a tourism summit in Thessaloniki next year with the Black Sea Economic Cooperation group in an effort to promote multilateral cooperation in tourism in the region, Develoment Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said on Friday.

Speaking at a new conference in the framework of Philoxenia 2000 international tourism fair in Thessaloniki, Christodoulakis stressed that the aim of the summit was the fundamental development of tourism through bilateral cooperation.

Christodoulakis said a total of 83 applications were made to build, expand or renovate hotels in the Attica region, of a total 21,000 beds, ahead of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Christodoulakis forecast that tourism growth in the country would continue in 2001 but at a more slower pace compared with the current year.

[08] Panafon-business communication

Panafon, a listed Greek mobile operator, on Friday launched a new service to improve business communication in the country, introducing mVPN (mobile Virtual Private Network), an integrated system managing all telecommunication needs of a company, facilitating staff communication and reducing costs.

The new service is based on Panafon's GSM network and its established telecommunications infrastructure.

Panafon also offers 24-hour technical service for its new service.

[09] ASE-close

Equity prices ended the last trading session of the week lower on the Athens Stock Exchange, hit by a sharp fall in National Bank of Greece's share price.

Traders said, however, that buying activity for smaller capitalisation stocks and a recovery in Hellenic Telecoms' shares, following a 9.5 percent drop in the previous three sessions, helped to lift prices off the day's lows.

The general index ended 0.64 percent lower at 3,791.88 points, with turnover a low 56.35 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 0.92 percent lower at 2,194.85 points, and the FTSE/ASE 40 index eased 0.10 percent to 450.57 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 1.05 percent higher at 410.36 points.

[10] ADEX-close

The story on the ADEX close report should be ignored. A new correct version of the story will follow soon.

[11] Greece-foreign exchange

A jump in the euro/dollar rate above the 87 cents psychological barrier in international markets following a surprise new intervention by the European Central Bank, benefited the drachma's parity which gained more ground against the US dollar on Friday.

The Greek currency's fixing rate was set at 389.450 drachmas per dollar, up from 393.130 the previous day.

The drachma was stable against the euro at 339.890 drachmas per euro (339.810 on Thursday).

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