Shares soar on talks news

SHARES soared 5.24 per cent yesterday, pulled higher by investors relieved at news long-stalled talks on the division of the island would resume in January.

The stock market reversed a week of losses, with the benchmark index ending seven points higher at 140.72.

“A step towards settling the Cyprus problem and without undoing the European Union (membership) prospect is very positive,” said Laiki Investments senior analyst Yiannis Tirkides.

President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash agreed in a ground-breaking move on Tuesday to resume direct talks on the future of the divided island.

Divided or not, Cyprus is poised to join the EU in its next expansion wave. The prospect could make or break the long-running conflict, which is a significant source of tension between NATO allies Greece and Turkey.

One broker said the market may have overreacted. “It is overly biased to look at things positively. Things have not really changed that much on the ground. We don’t know for sure that things will get better in future,” the broker said.

” The general index is a patriot and was overly touched by the outcome of the meeting between Mr. Clerides and Mr. Denktash yesterday,”said the xak.com web analyst. ” He was not particularly fond of Mr. Clerides accepting the invitation in the occupied area but the fact that for the first time since 1974 we have something positive to look forward to was more than enough for him to smile and be joyous.”

The FTSE/CySE index rose 4.91 per cent to 551.07 points, buoyed by a 4.6 per cent rally on heavyweight banking stocks.

Advancing stocks beat declining ones 135 to 15 with 14 unchanged on 164 traded. There were 8,380 deals.

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.