THE MARKET managed to retain its new-found optimism for a third day yesterday entering the week with gains of 1.83 per cent.
Although trading opened under Friday’s 173-point close and sank rapidly to 172 in the first 20 minutes, a buying spree throughout the remainder of the 90-minute session clocked up a close of 176.5 points.
Blue chips however took a back seat and the FTSE/CySE only managed a gain of 0.7per cent while overall, volume was still low at £6.4 million.
All sub sectors apart from tourism, which sustained losses of 1.17 per cent, ended in the black. Gains ranged from 0.44 per cent in the insurance sector to a whopping 10.4 per cent in the financial services sector on the back of a jump in Euroinvestment and Finance stocks. The share added 34 cents to end at £1.39. Sharelink also came up smiling with a modest four-cent increase to 72 cents and CLR continued its foray into the market on positive ground with an rise yesterday of another three cents to also end at 72 cents.
Banks kept a low-profile yesterday showing only a 0.43 per cent increase in the sector overall. Bank of Cyprus (BoC) did not even make the most-active list and ended he day at £2.42 with no change. Laiki however was actively traded and gained one cent to £2.03.
The technology sector also found itself back on top with gains of 4.4 per cent. After a bad run in recent weeks, GlobalSoft managed to reverse its recent losing streak by adding nine cents to close at £2.52 on a volume of £1.1 million making it the most active share of the day.
Elsewhere in the technology sector the big winner was Logicom, which jumped 11 cents to 66 cents while Spidernet gained three cents to 79 cents.
Overall, gainers outpaced losers yesterday by 121 to 26 while 64 companies remained unchanged.
“The Cyprus market is very unique in that while global stock markets are suffering at the moment, here the index seems to go its own way regardless,” said one analyst. “But there appears to be a note of cautious optimism on the floor the past week. We hope it lasts.”
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.
