In Brief
Foreign players take 262 mln euros from equities Foreign investors took a net 262 million euros ($372 million) out of Greece’s equities market in August but still owned half of the market’s free float, data from the Athens stock exchange showed yesterday. By contrast, domestic investors placed a net 249 million euros in the market. The average daily trading volume in August fell to 181.6 million euros from 247 million in July and 424 million in the same month a year earlier. Month-on-month, the Greek equity market’s total capitalization fell 2.5 percent in August to 124.5 billion euros – about 54 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Year-on-year the market’s value fell 32.4 percent. The market capitalization of the bourse’s blue chip FTSE-ATHEX 20-share index fell 2.5 percent to 86.4 billion euros. The Athens bourse said foreign portfolios owned 51.4 percent percent of the Greek equity market’s free float versus 51.6 percent in July. (Reuters) Bond volumes drop to 25 billion in August The volume of Greek government debt traded on the central bank’s electronic system (HDAT) fell to 25.08 billion euros ($35.6 billion) in August from 29.2 billion in July, the Bank of Greece said yesterday. Daily average turnover in August eased to 1.25 billion euros from 1.27 billion in the previous month. Greek government bond yields fell in August, particularly at the short end of the yield curve, in line with the performance seen in the rest of the eurozone. In Greece, the most actively traded bond was the 10-year benchmark which recorded 17.2 billion euros worth of transactions. Investor interest focused on government paper with remaining maturities of 7-10 years, which absorbed 77 percent of overall volume. (Reuters) Price retreat Romania’s annual inflation will fall from recent three-year peaks in August thanks largely to lower food costs, putting pressure on the central bank to halt monetary tightening, a Reuters poll showed yesterday. The mid-range forecast of 15 analysts showed annual inflation at 8.2 percent in August, down from July’s peak of 9 percent. Monthly inflation was seen at 0.1 percent. Analysts expect inflation to have peaked in July, arguing that a strong harvest, a series of interest rate hikes and a favorable statistical base effect will combine to bring price growth down during the second half of 2008. (Reuters) Romtelecom wins Romtelecom SA, Romania’s former telephone monopoly, won a license to operate the country’s sixth wireless broadband network. Romtelecom beat two other groups of bidders, including Saudi Oger Ltd, the Riyadh-based construction, telecoms and utility company, and postal monopoly Compania Nationala Posta Romana SA, for the license, the Bucharest-based Autoritatea Nationala de Reglementare in Comunicatii said. The Romanian company will pay 1.07 million euros ($1.52 million) in licensing fees, the regulator said. Romtelecom, which provides fixed-line and cellular-phone services in the country of 22 million, is 54 percent-owned by Greece’s OTE. (Bloomberg)
