Market comes off its record high

PROFIT-TAKING forced share prices off Tuesday’s record high, with the official all-share index yesterday closing 0.85 per cent down at 124.02. The value of trade stood at £7.21 million, more than half of which was in bank titles.

Bank of Cyprus tumbled by six cents to close at £5.80 at the end of the last trading day before a 12-cent per share dividend is paid to shareholders. The Popular Bank was down nine cents at £5.91.

The two financial institutions, the largest in Cyprus, combined for more than 55 per cent of yesterday’s trade in terms of value.

Five of the market’s seven sectors finished down yesterday, with only insurance and trade in positive territory.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.