Share plunge rocks new-found confidence

By Jean Christou

SHARE prices plunged 3.5 per cent yesterday in a disappointing session, which took the all-share index back to 132.7 points, dashing hope of a solid recovery.

Hopes had been building up over the past month that the shaky bourse was on the threshold of a turnaround, but sellers surfaced in their droves yesterday as profit-taking dominated the day’s trading.

Blue chips were even harder hit, as the FTSE/CySE dropped 3.25 per cent to 515 points, while volume fell back from last week’s double digits to only £7.5 million.

All sectors except fish farms ended in the red, with losses ranging from 0.51 per cent in the technology sector to 4.58 per cent in the investment sector.

The three main banks topped the most active list but came under heavy selling pressure, which left the sector with losses of 2.9 per cent. Bank of Cyprus lost six cents to £1.88 and Laiki Bank shed four cents to £1.48. Hellenic dropped three cents to 89 cents.

GlobalSoft (GLC) and New Marathon Tours (NMT), which were suspended from trading last month for alleged breaches of stock market regulations, returned to the floor on Monday under certain conditions. Both stocks recorded significant gains. GLC ended at 17 cents and NMT at 13 cents.

Overall, 87 titles declined compared to 27 gainers and 32 that closed unchanged.

” We had been expecting some profit-taking after the good run we had over the past few weeks,”said one analyst. ” I just hope that it doesn’t shake investor confidence too much and that we can look forward to the rest of the week’s trading.”

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.