THE ALL-SHARE index hit a year-low for the third consecutive day this week yesterday, dipping 1.70 per cent to close at 120.89 with volume a meagre £2.34 million.
Neither was the performance for the FTSE any better, as the top-20 blue chips flagged 2.06 per cent to come into rest at 495.27 by noon.
The banks cornered most of what little action was on offer, hogging 34.33 per cent of business.
Not that the activity bode well for the selling price. Bank of Cyprus was the most stable, dropping 1.59 per cent from £1.86 to £1.85.
Cyprus Popular Bank shed three cents or 2.63 per cent to close at £1.48, and Hellenic Bank lost 2.29 per cent, nonetheless staying on the even keel at 85 cents.
Cyventure Capital Ltd topped yesterday’s list of winners, jumping 14.22 per cent, translating into a real price increase of 4.3 cents, working out at 24.9 cents a share.
At the other end of the scale Blue Island Holdings was the day’s worst performing stock, plummeting 15.03 per cent.
Pierides G. Electrical Ltd also scored miserably, down 14.74 per cent, closing down 0.8 cents to 13.3.
“The liquidations dagger is pushed deeper and deeper into the heart of the investment community with rumours that most of the selling comes from stockbrokerages that trade for their own sake,” wrote the independent xak.com commentator.
With the annual “closed period” for most companies starting today and lingering until the end of March, analysts put Wednesday’s havoc down to last minute moves.
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.
