The week’s trading opened on a low note yesterday with further losses pushing the index down to 227.3, a drop of 0.46 per cent as investors continue to either sell out or shy away.
Volume fell back again to just over £6 million, much of which came from further dumping in Kyknos shares, the day’s second most active share and its second biggest percentage loser.
Following the slaughter of Kyknos on returning to the market Friday after a month-long suspension, the share yesterday shed another six cents to end at 91 cents with over 860,000 changing hands compared to over five million on Friday.
Trading opened two points under Friday’s close and dropped as far as 225 before rallying.
But even the last minute rush failed to make any significant impact on the index.
While the FTSE/CySE performed slightly better yesterday, it still ended 0.14 per cent in the red at 966 points as Bank of Cyprus took the lead in the blue chips stakes, gaining a modest one cent to £3.12.
Laiki fell two cents to £2.72.
Others on the most active list included Petrolina, which dropped back two cents to 75 cents with a share volume of over 800,000, and Lordos Hotels, the day’s top gainer adding five cents to 47 cents.
In the technology sector, GlobalSoft continued to keep a low profile shedding another four cents after last week’s turnaround to end at £4.29 but Logicom added three cents to 91 cents.
Only the hotel and banking sectors gained yesterday with modest increases of 0.34 per cent and 0.03 per cent respectively.
Losses in the remaining sectors ranged from 1.09 per cent for fish farms and 2.38 per cent for insurance companies.
Overall, losers outpaced gainers by 92 to 54, with 62 companies remaining unchanged.
“In terms of volume and performance this has been an abysmal month and not a great start to the year,” said one Nicosia trader, adding that “the market appears to be heading no where rapidly.”
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
