INVESTORS snapped up shares lurking at year-lows yesterday, shoring the market up 6.2 per cent and eclipsing an 8.5 per cent hammering of stocks on Thursday.
Yesterday reaffirmed that there is never a quiet day on the Cyprus bourse when shares staged an impressive 27-point rebound in aggressive buying which saw traded value of £26.7 million, higher than it has been for weeks.
It placated dozens of investors who gathered on the ground floor of the stock exchange building to take brokers and authorities to task over the continued slump in prices. "We have to make it clear to investors that they should not sell their shares dirt cheap to sharks," one investor said.
Police kept a close watch on investors standing outside the bourse building before the session began. Several officers protected the entrance to the main offices but their presence was superfluous.
The market notched up a six-point gain at the outset of 448.31 points and kept climbing until it closed at 470.41. Traders had predicted before the session started that investors would be on the buy side. "We had many buy orders because prices were really very low," one trader said.
But some traders said it was early to predict that the market had entered a buy cycle. "It is not something we can foretell. The day was excellent and we recouped some of the losses suffered on Thursday," said stockbroker Costas Hadjigavriel. "Prices are at very attractive levels so some investors took the chance and bought." Traders said buyers included both institutional and private investors.
Most securities traded yesterday advanced; there were 6,185 deals. Cash squeezes and rumours of influential players wanting to stitch up smaller investors by pressuring prices have angered many.
Investors’ association Pasecha has said its members had the impression the recent dive in prices was artificial. Pasecha vice-chairman Kypros Protopapas told reporters that yesterday’s gathering was one of a series of measures planned to show authorities that the group would not tolerate the situation any further. "Some people have decided not to give their shares away any more," he said when asked why the market showed such a broad rebound.
Small and medium cap shares, which were the first casualties of the downturn this week, registered the highest gains. Commercial stocks surged 11 per cent, with industrial and insurance stocks following with a five and six per cent rise respectively.
Banking stocks rose 4.4 per cent. Bank of Cyprus was lifted off year lows to close at £7.65, up 46 cents on a turnover of 596,000 shares. Popular Bank notched up a 19-cent gain to close at £12.49 while Hellenic Bank rose 36 cents to £2.81 on a turnover of 798,000 shares.
Louis Cruise Lines dominated transactions with 2.2 million shares changing hands as it rose 22 cents to £1.46, followed by Hellenic and Bank of Cyprus.
In terms of net gainers, ShareLink nil-paid rights rose 13.75 per cent to £13.65, while its ordinary shares climbed 7.7 per cent, or £1.32, to £18.45.
