Profit taking on BoC drags the market down

SHARE prices sank back down yesterday, with a weakness in banking stocks dragging an otherwise stable market 1.5 per cent lower.

Profit taking hit the blue-chip sector which had more than two per cent snipped off its value, depressed almost entirely by Bank of Cyprus, which registered a  turnover of more than 600,000 shares.

There was profit taking in the heavyweight stock, which some dealers partly attributed to the bank failing to give shareholders at its Wednesday AGM a firm date for its Athens debut.

They knocked 41 cents off the share price, which slipped to £8.59, ignoring other news that the bank planned bonus issues and would spin off a lucrative property unit.

"A lot of people are just hanging around waiting for the Athens listing. I could also say that some of them have already discounted the announcements," a fund manager at one Nicosia financial services firm said.

However, stockbrokers publicly sided with BoC’s argument that the actual listing date was irrelevant — the fact that it was going to list was enough, they said.

"A time span of one month or two months is irrelevant for a 100-year-old bank," said Yiannos Athienitis of Severis and Athienitis.

Laiki, which yesterday said it was in agreement to buy 90 per cent of Greek brokerage Attalos at a premium of eight billion drachmas, rose 13 cents to £13.20.

The deal, which would give the bank a foothold in the Greek financial services market, has been approved by the Central Bank. Approval from Greek monetary authorities is pending.

There were marginal declines and advances in the rest of the market, bringing the all-share CSE index down 1.52 per cent on dealings worth £46.4 million, off Wednesday’s year-high of £57.2 million.

Two companies which made their debut yesterday ended with substantial appreciation.

Phoenikas Investments opened at one pound and closed at £1.32 on 101,800 shares changing hands.

Farmakas Quarries closed at £1.68 after opening at £1.45 on 631,606 shares traded.