Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-06-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[02] Spokesman says Greek KFOR troops not at risk from Kosovo fever

[03] Greek stocks rebound sharply on ASE

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Buying rates for Friday

U.S. dollar 399.285

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 551.964

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 045.333

Swedish kroner 036.275

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 332.374

Swiss franc 221.856

Norwegian kroner 042.489

Cyprus pound 587.085

Canadian dollar 262.478

Australian dollar 206.427

[02] Spokesman says Greek KFOR troops not at risk from Kosovo fever

The reports of an outbreak of the rare Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Kosovo do not give rise to concern that Greek troops serving with the KFOR peace-keeping force may be in danger, government spokesman Dimitris Reppas said on Thursday.

In response to questions, the spokesman said that every precautionary measure was being taken to protect Greeks living in the area.

[03] Greek stocks rebound sharply on ASE

Equity prices ended sharply higher on Thursday reversing a seven-day decline that pushed the general index around 10 percent lower on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Traders described the change in the market's course as a technical recovery, a normal reaction to its recent sharp falls, with a low turnover justifying this estimate.

Banks and telecommunications stocks attracted demand to lead the market higher, with National Bank (+4.37%), Alpha Bank (+3.53%), Commercial Bank (+3.51%), Hellenic Telecoms (+2.70%) and Panafon (+2.46%) leading the way.

The general index ended 2.78 percent higher at 2,983.48 points, slightly off the day's highs of 2,991.81 points, with turnover a low 201.06 million euros, or 68.51 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 3.11 percent higher at 1,746.86 points, the FTSE/ASE 40 index jumped 1.81 percent to 333.17 points and the FTSE/ASE SMALLCAP index rose 0.81 percent to 951.86 points.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 280.17 points, up 0.46 percent.

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