By Hamza Hendawi
BANK shares, the market’s traditional shakers and movers, were battered yesterday for the second consecutive day, while the market as a whole continued a display of resilience to edge up to a new all-time high.
The all-share index was up 0.27 per cent to close at 656.82. The small increase followed Wednesday’s 0.05 per cent rise, suggesting that the market was consolidating, although interest appears for the moment to be shifting away from the blue chips of the banks.
The Bank of Cyprus, by far the market’s number one share in terms of capitalisation, shed 30 cents to take to 82 cents its combined losses over two days. It closed at £10.73 on a turnover of 405,879 shares valued at £4.36 million.
The Popular Bank was the only financial institution to close higher on Wednesday, but it had no such luck yesterday. It closed eight cents down at £12.97. Hellenic Bank was up three cents, closing at £4.58, while Universal Bank became 70.50 cents lighter yesterday to compound the effects of a 20-cent depreciation on Wednesday.
The banks sub-index closed 1.66 per cent down at 739.75 with trade valued at nearly £10 million, out of a total volume of £38.01 million.
The only other market sector to finish down was the ‘other companies’, whose undisputed star of late, Louis Cruise Lines, fell by 26.50 cents to close at £7.63 on a turnover of nearly 500,000 shares valued at £3.73 million. The sector’s sub-index was down 1.36 per cent at 720.68.
But the sun was shining on the three titles of the trading sector, where Nicos Shacolas’ Woolworth and CTC together with Orphanides Supermarkets enjoyed a field day.
Orphanides, already with super stores in Larnaca, Limassol and Paralimni, is opening its first outlet in Nicosia tomorrow, a hypermarket on the southern edge of the city. The share was up 42 cents to close at £4.72 with more than £1 million in trade.
The company has maintained an exceptionally high profile in recent weeks through an aggressive advertising campaign promoting the new Nicosia hypermarket, which is expected to give tough competition to the capital’s existing large food retailers Charalambides, Woolworth and Pilavakis.
Woolworth, meanwhile, rose by 58 cents yesterday to close at £6.35 one day after the company announced that it was going to put proposals for a share split and a rights issue to shareholders later this month.
CTC, which closed up 33 cents at £4.92, said on Wednesday it was planning a rights issue of its own.
