Market holds firm despite profit-taking

By Hamza Hendawi

SHARE prices continued to advance yesterday in the face of profit-taking in the banks and industrials, with the all-share index closing marginally up at a new record of 655.02.

The day’s trade – 6,386 transactions in all – was worth a respectable £42.30 million, the largest since the market reopened on October 4 after a month-long closure. Most trade was conducted in the first half of the 60- minute session, with shares worth £36.24 million changing hands halfway through.

Three of the market’s four banking shares, however, appear to have succumbed to the pressures of profit-taking. Bank of Cyprus, Hellenic Bank and Universal Bank ended the day lower, while Popular Bank was barely in positive territory with a five-cent gain. The sector’s biggest loser was the Bank of Cyprus, shedding 52 cents and closing at £11.03, while Hellenic was down by 18 cents at £4.55. Universal Bank, by far the smallest of the four, was 20 cents down at £9.40. Popular Bank closed at £13.05.

Volume was relatively thin in the usually heavily traded banks. The sector, whose sub-index dipped by 2.71 per cent, attracted £7.71 million worth of trade, while the “other companies” sector – set alight by Louis Cruise Lines (LCL) – generated ?9.63 million in trade, of which LCL accounted for more than half.

LCL has become all the rage in the Cyprus market since the company last Friday announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Greek-based Royal Olympic Cruise Lines. The share closed at £7.90 yesterday, 40 cents up on Tuesday’s close.

Industrials were the only sector down beside the banks in yesterday’s trade. The sector’s index was down by 2.26 per cent, largely as a result of the Limassol-based Vassiliko Cement shedding 58 cents to close at £4.32.

The only other industrial to close down yesterday was the printers Cassoulides & Sons, down by a single cent to close at £6.90.

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.