Share prices plunge on disappointing bank results

By Jean Christou

SHARE prices plunged for the second day in a row following what analysts said were the poor Bank of Cyprus nine-monthly results announced on Tuesday.

The all-share index plunged 4.2 per cent to 136 points, wiping out in two sessions the slow move forward the index had been experiencing over the past few weeks.

Blue chips lost an overall 2.94 per cent, taking the FTSE/CySE index down to 538 points while volume stood at £13.3 million.

Sectoral losses were heavy, ranging between 2.36 per cent in the banking sector to eight per cent in the technology sector.

Bank of Cyprus, which announced an 8.8 drop in pre-tax profits for the first nine months of the year, lost five cents yesterday to close at £1.95, while Laiki Bank dropped three cents to £1.59. Both stocks topped the day’s most active list.

” What we have been seeing in the past few days means that the upward swing in the index was purely based on speculation and expectations,”said one analyst. ” The Bank of Cyprus results proved to be a disappointment to investors and any decline in bank profits is bad for the market.”

Overall, only three titles recorded gains yesterday, compared to 113 decliners and 22 that closed unchanged.

” Two successive bearish sessions with increased volume is reason enough for investors to do some soul searching and analysts to hit the graphs, “said the xak.com web analyst. ” A retreat was expected after the index moved from 106 to 142. However, the trick will be for stocks to apply the break handle. Tomorrow’s the last session of the month and it would serve as a great psychological boost if stocks could manage to get on their feet again.”

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.