Share prices dip on Kosovo strikes and Athens falls

By Hamza Hendawi

CONCERN OVER Nato’s aerial bombardment of Yugoslavia, Wednesday’s plunge on the Athens Stock Exchange and profit-taking combined yesterday to push share prices in Cyprus down by 2.63 per cent with losses across the board.

The all-share index closed at 120.76 and the value of trade was £6.52 million. “Some seemed to have panicked today over the situation in Yugoslavia,” said Elias Kazanos of S.B. Unigrowth Ltd. “The market initially suffered massive drops, but then partially recovered when some investors with cash realised that there were some good buys around.”

“It was all psychological,” said Kazanos, who said that a drop in share prices in Athens by nearly five per cent on Wednesday has fed the negative sentiment in the market. “The market will probably recover its losses on Monday if the situation does not worsen in Yugoslavia,” he added.

The drop in the Athens Stock Market, which was accompanied by a two-month low of the drachma, reflected fears in Greece of the conflict in Yugoslavia spiralling into a wider Balkan war into which the neighbouring Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia could be dragged. Shares in Athens made a partial recovery yesterday when they bounced back by 2.22 per cent.

The markets were closed in both Athens and Nicosia on Thursday.

Another factor contributing to the market’s dip in Cyprus yesterday was caused by the Bank of Cyprus going ex-dividend, having paid a final 1998 12- cent dividend to shareholders. The share shed 11 cents to close at £5.54, accounting for nearly 35 per cent of all trade.

The Popular Bank fared worse, shedding 12 cents to close at £5.79. The other two bank titles, Hellenic and Universal, also finished down.

“The drop was partly caused by some investors cashing in,” explained Hellenic Bank Investment’s Marios Georgiades. “But others seem to be taking a few days off from the market to wait and see what happens in Yugoslavia.”

Traders said the market was down by nearly five per cent soon after the start of trade yesterday, but shares later made a partial recovery when some investors began snapping up bargains.

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.