THE CYPRUS equity market trimmed some of Wednesday’s gains with a 1.14 per cent decline yesterday as traded
value hit its lowest level this year.
The all-share index dropped 7.41 points to 610.22 on thin trading volumes of £14.7 million, a figure traders said had not been seen on the market in months.
The lowest trading volume recorded this year was actually £5.8 million pounds on February 4, but that session was interrupted early by a power cut.
The market opened firmer by some five points on Wednesday’s close, but selling pressure and weak trading volumes made the upswing impossible to sustain, traders said.
Blue chip bank stocks, which hold more than half the bourse capitalisation, retreated 1.06 per cent after climbing 1.7 per cent on Wednesday.
"The market is lacking momentum for a surge in the short-term. There are investors who are not active and interest has waned in some cases," said one analyst at a local brokerage.
Of 89 securities traded, 48 dropped and 28 advanced, while 13 remained unchanged.
Traditionally, February is a slow month in terms of turnover, but the crunch is more evident from the ongoing liquidity squeeze created by new issues.
"A lot of money is still blocked," said trader Louis Klappas.
Some 37 companies are awaiting approval to list their shares on the bourse, with murmurs of discontent gathering pace from impatient investors.
Industry insiders say the market has yet to see the results of the "fast-track" listing process the bourse authorities introduced early this year, where applications from new investment start-ups are handled by another team of CSE officers.
"Processing applications should take between four and six weeks but here it is anything between three months and a year," said Klappas.
Yesterday’s session was also marked by protests from investors, who said new arrangements in the stock
exchange building made it impossible to communicate with their brokers.
Investors have been shepherded into a new room in the stock exchange building and communicating with a broker means running up two floors and begging the security guards to let them into the trading floor. The alternative is using portable telephones.
But the problem came to a head yesterday morning when mobile phone lines went dead for about 30 minutes. CyTA said the problem was an overloading of the system.
Thirty seven companies have applied for permission to list their shares on the Cyprus Stock Exchange, the bourse said yesterday.
The companies are: Alkioni Fish Farm Ltd., Atlantic Insurance Ltd., Aristo Investments Ltd., Aiantas Investment Ltd., Andreas Coullapides Ltd., CAC Papantoniou Ltd., Chris Cash and Carry Ltd., Constantinou Bros Hotels Ltd., CLR Investments Fund Ltd., Demetra Investment Ltd., Dimco Electrical Supplies Ltd., Drake Investments Ltd., Costas Michaelides Constructions Ltd., Europrofit Capital Investments Ltd., Phoenikas Investment Ltd., Exelixis Investment Ltd., Golden Sun Leisure (CY) Ltd., G&K Exclusive Fashions Ltd., Isxis Investment Ltd., Jumbo Investments Ltd., Cosmos Insurance Company Ltd., Kyknos Investment Ltd., Laiki Investments Ltd., Pharmakas Quarries Ltd., LK Global Soft.Com Ltd., L.Atteshlis Shipping Ltd., Multichoice Cyprus Ltd., Muskita Aluminium Industries Ltd., New Marathon Tours Ltd., Palinex Trading Ltd., Phil Andreou Ltd., Pierides G. Electrical Ltd., PHC Franchised Restaurants Ltd., Rolandos Enterprises Ltd., Telia Aqua Marine Ltd., Harvest Capital Management Ltd. and Renos HadjiIoannou Farm Ltd.
