Athens News Agency: News in English, 00-01-11

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

CONTENTS

[01] Altec-Infocenter takeover

[02] Greek stocks fall 3.04 pct

[03] Successful 20-year bond auction

[04] Papandreou-Cyprus

[01] Altec-Infocenter takeover

Altec, a Greek listed software group, today announced the full acquisition of Infocenter, a Greek company with a 10-year experience in research, development and production of tax cash register systems, for an undisclosed sum.

Altec said the acquisition will contribute in an effort to increase its share in the domestic market of tax cash register systems, a market expected to witness rapid growth in the next three years due to the introduction of the euro in the Greek economy.

[02] Greek stocks fall 3.04 pct

Greek equities came under pressure for the second consecutive session on Tuesday to end sharply lower on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Dealers said selling intensified hitting all sectors and in particular smaller capitalisation stocks.

The general index dropped 3.04 percent to 5,190.17 points, slightly off the day's lows of 5,172.51 points. Turnover was a low 215 billion drachmas.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks fell to 1,638.11 points, while the FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks fell 2.22 percent to 2,693.94 and the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index ended at 950.86 points, off 5.59 percent.

[03] Successful 20-year bond auction

The Greek state successfully auctioned a 20-year bond issue on Tuesday, the first ever of this long-term category in the country.

The average weighed interest rate of the issue, worth 200 billion drachmas and paying an annual coupon of 6.5 percent, was set at 6.84 percent.

Bids submitted totalled 418.5 billion drachmas, more than two times the asked sum. Finally, the state accepted bids totalling 238 billion drachmas.

[04] Papandreou-Cyprus

Foreign minister George Papandreou on Tuesday flatly denied rumors that Greece supported a confederation solution to the Cyprus problem, saying "the basic target is and will remain a just and viable solution based on the resulutions of the UN Security Council and the high-level agreements on the creation of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation".

Papandreou, who flew to Nicosia today for talks with the Cyprus government and political parties, said such a federation would be a single international entity with a single sovereignty and citizenship, which would guarantee the security, peaceful coexistence and prosperity of all the citizens of Cyprus -- the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots alike.

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