Athens News Agency: News in English, 02-03-12

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

CONTENTS

[01] Authorities slap fine on executive for insider trading

[02] Int'l tender for 'Culture Olympiad's' free-standing structures, designs

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

[04] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Wednesday

[05] Greek stocks end sharply lower on Tuesday

[06] Belgian campaign for Parthenon Marbles' return

[01] Authorities slap fine on executive for insider trading

The capital markets commission on Tuesday slapped a fine of 2.0 million euros on a senior executive of an Athens-quoted engineering contractor for insider trading.

Fined was the deputy chairman and managing director of Proodeftiki, Constantinos Koutlas, for the use and abuse on the market of confidential information about the company, the commission said in a statement.

Koutlas bought 94,430 stocks in Proodeftiki between August 9, 1999 and September 3 of the same year at an average price of 6,936 drachmas per share. On September 13-14, 1999, Koutlas sold 90,000 shares at an average 12,440 drachmas each, the statement said.

In buying the stock and subsequently selling at a profit, Koutlas took advantage of insider information that the company was planning to hold a stock split and share capital rise, which was announced on September 4, 1999, the commission said.

The share purchase was made before the public had access to the information that a stock split was ahead, it added.

[02] Int'l tender for 'Culture Olympiad's' free-standing structures, designs

The culture ministry on Tuesday unveiled an open international architectural tender for free-standing structures and pre-fabricated designs for the ?Cultural Olympiad? between 2001-2004, all in the run-up to the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

The tender will be officially published on April 8, with applications taken until June 8 and proposals submitted by no later than Nov. 11.

The international competition is open to both professional architects and architecture school students. Fifty-four entries will be selected for prizes, with the winners to divide 315,600 euros.

Work on the winning designs and proposals should commence next year, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said in Athens during a press conference.

The winning entries must be designed to be assembled and disassembled on the spot in order to be transported to various sites around the Greek capital.

The competition is a joint effort by the ?Cultural Olympiad? organisation and the International Union of Architects (IUA).

The IUA is an organisation embracing all the architects of the world through the professional associations of their respective countries.

[03] Foreign Exchange Rates - Wednesday

Indicative tourist buying rates per euro

U.S. dollar 0.880

Pound sterling 0.622

Danish kroner 7.491

Swedish kroner 9.157

Japanese yen 113.3

Swiss franc 1.479

Norwegian kroner 7.778

Cyprus pound 0.578

Canadian dollar 1.394

Australian dollar 1.694

[04] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Wednesday

Sunny weather is forecast in most parts of the country, with scattered cloud in the eastern islands and possibly rain in the morning. Winds north-northwesterly, light to moderate, turning strong in parts of the Aegean and then easing off. In the north, temperatures will range from 1C to 13C; on the rest of the mainland from 5C to 17C; and in the islands from 9C to 18C. Sunshine in Athens with temperatures between 8C and 17C. Same in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 8C to 13C.

[05] Greek stocks end sharply lower on Tuesday

Equity prices ended Tuesday's session sharply lower hit by talk over market authorities' moves to place several listed companies under surveillance because of their negative results, and by a negative climate in international markets.

The general index ended 2.20 percent down at 2,386.99 points, with turnover a low 107.78 million euros.

The Telecoms, Holding, Insurance and Wholesale sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses (2.93 percent, 2.84 percent, 2.80 percent and 2.71 percent, respectively).

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 1.72 percent lower, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index fell 2.29 percent, and the FTSE/ASE SmallCap 80 index dropped 2.43 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 318 to 28 with another 13 issues unchanged.

[06] Belgian campaign for Parthenon Marbles' return

BRUSSELS (ANA) -- Belgian Senators Francois Roelants du Vivier and Paul Wille are scheduled to give a press conference here on Wednesday regarding efforts to repatriate the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum back to Athens.

The press conference will mark the beginning of a campaign in Belgium entitled ?Parthenon 2004?, with the stated goal being the Marbles return prior to the 2004 Olympics Games in the Greek capital.

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