Stocks plunge nine per cent

STOCKS plunged almost nine per cent yesterday, shaving off this week’s gains in the second consecutive negative session.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange general index dropped back to 1,525 from 1,700 on Tuesday.

Trading opened at 1,600, the highest level hit during yesterday’s session and stayed in the red throughout.

Banks lost the gains they had recouped during strong positive trading sessions on Monday and Tuesday, slipping over 9.0 per cent and driving the entire market downwards.

Laiki lost 27 cents to €2.45, Hellenic dropped 15 cents to €1.35 and Bank of Cyprus fell 38 cents to €4.14, despite announcing profits of €375 million.

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.