By Hamza Hendawi
“MY OPINION is that the market is crazy,” was all that Adonis Yiangou of Expresstock had time to say to the Cyprus Mailyesterday. “I am really sorry, but I have a lot of work and no time at all.”
Yiangou was speaking several hours after share prices reached for the sky once again, this time with a leap of 4.91 per cent on a volume worth, in a Cyprus context, a breathtaking £37.62 million — an all-time record.
The all-share index stood at 212.83, a record close that took gains in the past nine sessions to a whopping 24.83 per cent.
Earlier on the day, Cyprus Stock Exchange Chairman Dinos Papadopolous warned against anyone trying to talk the market down, saying it should be left to its own devices. “It is the symbol of market economy,” he told the Mail.
But he also had some advice for anyone getting into the market in the hope of making a fast buck but knowing next to nothing about the stocks they are buying. “People should be careful with their investments and seek professional advice,” he said.
Papadopolous said the only anxiety he felt over the market’s meteoric rise in recent weeks was that brokerages were struggling to cope with the massive amount of backroom paperwork in view of the dramatically increased volumes on the bourse.
He said the stock exchange, like the brokerages, had to recruit a substantial number of personnel on a temporary basis in order to cope with the administrative workload to prevent delays in processing transactions.
In yesterday’s trade, the Bank of Cyprus went up by 46 cents to close at £8.97 with a volume worth £5.31 million as investors continued to buy the stock in the run-up to its two-for-one split due next month.
The Popular Bank did not do too badly either on the day, moving up by 24.50 cents to close at £4.82, while the Hellenic Bank continued its impressive run with a 22.50 cent appreciation that took it up to £6.52.
The three banks attracted a combined £10 million, accounting for 27 per cent of the day’s entire trade, while the banks’ sub-index rose by 5.37 per cent.
The Popular Bank warrants also rose by 39.50 cents to close at £6.48, while those of the Bank of Cyprus moved up by 8.50 cents to close at £5.49.
