By Jean Christou
Share prices dropped slightly again yesterday dragging the all-share index down 0.3 per cent to close at 376.9 as small investors saw the selling advantage of the recent boom in a few select stocks.
The index opened substantially lower, according to broker Stephanos Hailis and went down to 372 points. “This started the liquidations after Monday’s and Tuesday’s good days,” he said.
“Then there was a renewed interest which led the index higher but not high enough to close at yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) level.”
Volume stood at £26.5 million, substantially lower than Tuesday’s £36 million but still healthy.
All sectors ended with losses yesterday apart from investment and ‘other’ companies, which gained 0.68 per cent and 0.64 per cent respectively. Tourism, Tuesday’s star performer lost the bulk of that day’s 3.1 per cent gain to end 2.15 per cent down yesterday.
The trading and insurance sectors lost 1.3 per cent each, and manufacturing 0.76 per cent. The banking sector remained low-profile, down 0.44.
Bank of Cyprus (BoC) lost four cents close at £6.33, while Laiki Bank added one cent to end at £9.23. Hellenic Bank slid six cents to £2.09. Yesterday was the first trading day for Hellenic Bank Rights 1.5 million were traded.
Press reports yesterday said that Bank of Cyprus would suspend its shares on the CSE on September 22 in preparation for a its expected Athens listing of 39 million shares on the in the last week of the month. The suspension of the shares will be for a period of one week.
GlobalSoft continued its winning streak yesterday adding 13 cents to close at £5.24 with close to a million shares traded, while Glory Worldwide Holdings jumped 64 cents to end at £5.80. Cyprus Forest Industries also gained, increasing the share price by 12 cents to £4.09 amid reports of layoffs in the company, which is trimming its costs.
Profit taking continued in Toxotis and Europrofit stocks, which performed well earlier in the week leading to shavings in the price of both companies’ shares.
Toxotis lost 16 cents to close at £2.75 with 1.62 million shares changing hands while Europrofit dropped 15 cents to £2.75.
Hailis said nothing in yesterday’s trading stood out significantly but there was an indication that investors were returning to the market after the August holidays.
