Shares in third successive record close

SHARES moved higher yesterday to register the market’s third record close in as many days and the fourth since Tuesday last week. The official all- share index closed at 132.79, 0.19 per cent up on Tuesday’s close.

The value of trade was £8.05 million, just over half of which – £4.21 million – in the blue chips of the banks, whose sub-index rose by 0.43 per cent.

Not everyone finished in positive territory though.

Titles in investment, manufacturing, trading and miscellaneous companies finished lower.

The Popular Bank was the biggest winner, rising by 10.6 cents to close at £6.73 , while the Bank of Cyprus notched 6.2 cents to end the day on £5.58.

The Hellenic Bank continued its impressive run with a gain of 4.2 cents to close at £3.54.

Yesterday’s rise in the value of shares took the market up by more than 46 per cent since the start of the year. Shares appreciated by about 20 per cent for the whole of 1998.

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.