CSE counters bad press for the Med 100

THE Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) has hit back at a press report on Friday criticising the handling of the new Financial Times FTSE Med 100 index, a joint index it has undertaken with its Athens and Tel Aviv counterparts.

One Greek-language Cypriot daily said it had been impossible to find the closing figures for the Med 100 on Thursday, the day it was officially launched in Nicosia, and that delays had been caused by technical hitches. The new index, which comprises the top listed companies from the three exchanges, including five from Cyprus, had also ended 0.44 per cent down. Its base starting level was 5,000 points.

But yesterday a statement from the CSE denied there had been any problems with the first official day’s trading on the Med 100. It said that FTSE had been running the index on a test basis since June 9 and that in fact its opening level on Thursday was 5,299 points.

The test margin is designed to allow for likely initial changes and adaptations in the indices pending its stabilisation in the first days of opening. The index closed 23 points lower at 5,276.

“These prices were channelled regularly to the suppliers of information all over the world,” the statement said.

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.