Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-12-06
HR-Net News Distribution Manager
[01] NATO-Greece-Turkey-CBMs
[02] Agricultural Bank-listing
[03] Creta Farm-results
[04] Nationwide strike - Thursday
[05] ADEX-November report
[06] ASE-close
[07] Greece-consumers-protection
[08] Greece-foreign exchange
[01] NATO-Greece-Turkey-CBMs
06/12/2000 20:57:13
BRUSSELS (ANAG. Zitouniati) - NATO General Secretary Lord Robertson on
Wednesday announced that Greece and Turkey reached an agreement to
notify each other regarding their national armed forces exercises.
He said that the agreement was reached during discussions between the
Greek and Turkish permanent representatives to NATO, for the striking
of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) between the two countries, which
are held under NATO auspices.
[02] Agricultural Bank-listing
06/12/2000 17:11:49
Greece's Capital Markets' Committee on Wednesday approved Agricultural
Bank's initial public offering paving the way for the bank's listing on
the main market of the Athens Stock Exchange.
The plan envisages issuance of 13,496,500 new common nominal shares, of
which 11,496,500 will be offered through a public offering and the the
remaining 2,000,000 shares will be held by the Greek state.
[03] Creta Farm-results
06/12/2000 17:07:15
Creta Farm on Wednesday announced a 44 percent rise in its nine-month
turnover to 7.816 billion drachmas from 5.428 billion the same period
last year.
Profits jumped 110 percent to 1.013 billion drachmas frm 482 million in
1999.
The company also reported a significant decline in its long-term debt
to 80 million drachmas in the January-September period this year from
1.104 billion drachmas in the first nine months of 1999, a decline of
92.11 percent.
Creta Farm invested a total of 4.893 billion drachmas in the first nine
months of 2000, covering around 93 percent of the capital raised from
its initial public offering (5.350 billion drachmas).
Its five year investment plan envisages spending more than 25 billion
drachmas.
[04] Nationwide strike - Thursday
06/12/2000 17:03:49
Public transports throughout Greece, including the recently inaugurated
Athens metro, are expected to come to a halt on Thursday as part of a
nation-wide 24-hour strike against the governments proposed labour
reforms.
State-run Olympic Airways will schedule one flight per route, while
train employees and passenger shipping workers will also join the
strike. Specifically, ferry boats will stop disembarking from Piraeus
for 24 hours starting at dawn on Thursday.
The strike will affect practically all civil service sectors,
state-owned utilities, banks, the post office and even public
hospitals.
A keynote rally is set for the Pedion tou Areos square in downtown
Athens at 11 a.m. whereas other rallies are scheduled in other major
cities.
Among others, labour unions want implementation of a 35-hour workweek
without a reduction in pay.
[05] ADEX-November report
06/12/2000 17:02:31
Turnover volume on the Athens Derivatives Exchange improved
significantly in November, totalling 298,638 contracts from 236,370
contracts the previous month, an increase of 26 percent, official
figures showed on Wednesday.
The same increase, 26 percent, showed the average daily transactions in
November, to 6,787 contracts from 5,373 in October.
Future contracts on the FTSE/ASE 20 index rose 26.6 percent in turnover
to a daily average of 3,649 contracts, up from 2,882 in October.
Future contracts on the FTSE/ASE Mid 40 index increased 17.6 percent to
a daily average of 2,017 contracts from 1,715 the previous month.
Future contracts on Greek state bonds jumped 34.9 percent in turnover
to a daily average of 768 contracts, from 569 in October.
Official ADEX figures also showed a 15.6 percent rise in client codes
in November from the previous month.
[06] ASE-close
06/12/2000 16:54:48
Equity prices ended Wednesday's session sharply higher on the Athens
Stock Exchange, a development combined with a significant improvement
in turnover was seen by traders as evidence of a steady recovery of the
market.
Traders said that bold economic measures announced by the government in
the previous two days and a spectacular rebound in international
bourses helped in the improvement of climate in the domestic market.
Blue chip stocks, particularly banks and telecommunications, attracted
heavy demand pushing several shares sharply lower. Alpha Bank led the
list of gainers (up 11.64 percent), followed by Panafon (up 10.9 pct),
Hellenic Telecoms (up 4.85 pct) while Cosmote jumped 6.9 percent above
its entry price.
The general index ended 5.74 percent higher at 3,531.07 points, off the
day's highs of 6.53 percent, with turnover a hefty 124.73 billion
drachmas.
The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended 6.36
percent higher at 2,137.02 points, while the FTSE/ASE 40 index rose
4.45 percent to 447.66 points.
The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 3.80
percent higher at 374.14 points.
[07] Greece-consumers-protection
06/12/2000 16:25:38
Greece on Wednesday adopted EU rules on consumer protection from
distance sales and collocative advertisement, harmonising the country's
existing regulatory framework to EU directives with a ministerial
decision signed on the initiative of Development Deputy Minister Milena
Apostolaki.
The decision envisages that suppliers are obliged to offer detailed
informations to consumers over the company's data, product
specifications, payment terms, before signing of a contract. It also
envisages extending the time period for a consumer to withdraw its
interest on a product to three months, from 15 days currently.
[08] Greece-foreign exchange
06/12/2000 14:40:09
The drachma resumed its upward trend against the US dollar in the
domestic foreign exchange market on Wednesday, after Tuesday's fall,
following the euro's advance above the 88 cents against the dollar in
international markets.
The Greek currency rose to 385.180 drachmas per dollar at the day's
fixing, from 386.300 the previous day.
The drachma was unchanged against the euro currency at 340.640 drachmas
per euro.
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