Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-08-07

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

CONTENTS

[01] Stockbrokers report drop in transactions on the Athens bourse

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

[03] Mutual fund assets steady in July, most returns in the red

[04] Weather Forecast: Sunny skies on Wednesday

[05] (copy) Greek stocks plunge on profit disappointment

[06] Helipads - Islands - Leros

[01] Stockbrokers report drop in transactions on the Athens bourse

Transactions at the Athens Stock Exchange excluding share buybacks and block trades totalled 1.63 trillion drachmas in July, down 12.3 percent on the previous month, the Association of Athens Stock Exchange Members said on Tuesday.

Total transactions in July came to 2.89 trillion drachmas, up 27.3 percent from June, due to the acquisition of Interamerican by insurer Eureka of the Netherlands.

In addition, block trades accounted for 43.5 percent of total turnover at the bourse, the association said in a monthly report.

Ranking top among brokerages in turnover were P&K Securities at 6.42 percent of the market, followed by Alpha Brokerage at 6.06 percent, Sigma Securities at 6.0 percent, National Securities at 5.61 percent and EFG Eurobank Securities at 5.60 percent, the report said.

[02] Foreign Exchange Rates: Wednesday

Indicative buying rates

U.S. dollar 385.507

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 545.636

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 45.415

Swedish kroner 36.787

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 310.846

Swiss franc 224.458

Norwegian kroner 042.417

Cyprus pound 589.176

Canadian dollar 252.351

Australian dollar 198.607

[03] Mutual fund assets steady in July, most returns in the red

Total assets of Greek mutual funds totalled 8.76 trillion drachmas at the end of July, the same as the previous month, the Union of Institutional Investors said on Tuesday.

Total assets in July were 16.80 percent lower than at the start of the year, the union said in its monthly report on mutual funds.

In terms of return on investment, the month's greatest losers were players in domestic equity funds, who saw an average 20 percent of their original investment evaporate against the beginning of 2001.

Next came investors in composite funds, who lost an average of 10.6 percent of their starting cash in the same period.

Bucking the trend were domestic money market and fixed income mutual funds, which stayed in the black, although at lower levels than originally forecast, the report said.

[04] Weather Forecast: Sunny skies on Wednesday

Sunshine is forecast throughout the country on Wednesday, although from evening isolated storms may break out in the north, mainly on high ground. Winds northerly, light to moderate, turning strong in parts of the Aegean. In the west and north, temperatures will range from 19C to 35C; on the rest of the mainland from 21C to 37C; and in the Aegean islands from 23C to 33C. Sunny in Athens with temperatures between 24C and 37C. Same in Thessaloniki, with temperatures from 22C to 33C.

[05] (copy) Greek stocks plunge on profit disappointment

Equity prices plunged on the Athens Stock Exchange on Tuesday pushing the general index below the 2,700 support level, hit by waves of profit taking after the announcement of disappointing 1st half results by National Bank, which were lower than market expectations.

Analysts said the market would now test the 2,650 support level in the short-term.

Shares in the Publishing, Textiles, IT and Banks sectors suffered the heaviest losses, while decliners overwhelmingly led advancers by 346 to nine with one share unchanged.

The general index ended 4.37 percent lower at 2,669.54 points, near its day's lows of 2,664.11 points. Turnover was a low 142.23 million euros, or 48.46 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 1,501 points, off 4.44 percent, the FTSE/ASE 40 index dropped 5.21 percent to 303.99 points, and the FTSE/ASE SMALLCAP 80 index ended at 875.11 points, off 5.04 percent.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 258.00 points, down 4.90 percent.

[06] Helipads - Islands - Leros

Four new helipads, three in the Aegean and one on an Ionian island, were announced on Tuesday by the government. The specific locations include the Kameni Hora site on the Ionian island of Ithaca; the Mermigas site on the northernmost island in the Dodecanese, Patmos; Aghios Fokas (Cavo Stara site) on the Cyclades island of Tinos and the Eressos township (Aghia Sofia site) on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos.

All four projected helipads will be able to operate day and night for helicopters of up to 18 metres -- 30 metres for the facility on Ithaca.

In a related development, the transport ministry also clarified that the Athens-Leros air link will be included in the so-called ?unprofitable? domestic routes, as it meets relevant European Union criteria. Leros is in the northern Dodecanese, south of Patmos.

The ministry announced on Monday that an international tender will be proclaimed for unprofitable domestic routes now serviced by state-run Olympic Airways and its subsidiary Olympic Aviation, with both private Greek and EU air carriers eligible.

A new framework for such domestic air routes in Greece will be implemented as of late 2001.

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