THE all-share index jumped 1.26 per cent yesterday doing little to restore investor confidence as it closed at 358.86 points.
Opening two points down on Thursday’s rock-bottom close, at 352.07, the market sunk to a new all time low of 350.55 some 30 minutes into trading but fast-moving transactions later pumped it up to 360.20. Then the liquidation of short-term profits squeezed the index into a 12pm close of 358.86.
A trading flurry pushed up the volume to £25.26 million, but brokers remained gloomy about the bourse’s prospects.
“There’s a real lack of liquidity among investors, which has been lost to the banks,” said Socrates Georgiades of Argis Financial Services.
The trend to keep money bottled up in bank accounts, rather than risking ventures on the stock exchange underpins the hopelessness of immediate recovery.
The major hope for the future is the pending membership of the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) to the Athens exchange in October. It is expected to open and close its catalogues between October 17 and 20, before listing by November 15.
“It might create a different climate, although my experience around the world says that when we’re expecting positive things, we often get the opposite,” said Georgiades.
Many stockbrokers are clamouring for the government to introduce policies to re-establish confidence on the exchange, including suspending taxes for each transaction.
One of the worst hit companies during the slump has been F.W. Woolworth & Co (Cyprus) Ltd (FWW). Capital has slid into the doldrums, dragging the share price down from £7.80 to an average of £1.45.
Those looking to capitalise on the price fall-out, and make a tidy medium to long-term investment, would be wise to turn their attention towards the investment sector, which is currently depressed but well-placed to make gains in the coming months.
The group saw the least movement yesterday, turning up just 0.21 per cent, as transactions stayed on an even keel at £1.67 million.
Cyprus Airways (CAIR) makes an interesting prospect, closing at just 69 cents yesterday.
Multichoice (MCC) finishing up at £1.09 also stands to make significant gains, as does Laiki Investments (LI), which rose by seven cents to close at £1.45 at the trading finish.
As the bourse backbone, banks are traditional and secure investment opportunities. BoC closed at £6.61 and the Cyprus Popular Bank (CPB) at £9.35, both attractive prices to reap profit, when eventual recovery kicks in. The sector yesterday took the lead in market volume, pushing £3.16 million. Tourism companies were close on their heels as some £3.09 million worth of shares changed hands.
Friday’s biggest sector percentage rise was the insurance group, increasing by 5.25 per cent, compared to losses of over 6 per cent on two consecutive days this week.
The depressed trading sector gained 4.86 per cent as volume topped the £1 million mark for the first time in many days.
Friday’s mini-pick up was inevitable given the depressed markets but Demos Stavrides of AAA Stockbrokers emphasised that the losses were here to stay for the next five to ten days, before any chance of more sustained upward movement, however small.
