BANKS again led the way to push the all-share index up 0.77 per cent to a close of 162.7 points yesterday.
The FTSE/CySE blue chips index ended higher with gains of 0.9 per cent while volume hovered around the £7 million mark.
Although trading opened low, the index passed Monday’s closing levels within the first half an hour, hitting 162 points by mid session but dropping again before dragging itself up in the final 20 minutes.
“It seems that investors, the few who are still around at this time of the year, couldn’t make up their minds,” said one trader. “In the end they apparently decided to put their faith in bank stocks.”
The banking sector ended 0.96 per cent up. Bank of Cyprus added one cent to £2.14 while Laiki Bank gained three cents to £1.72.
Almost 400,000 new shares in Laiki started trading yesterday, the result of the conversion of convertible bonds. The shares were incorporated in the bank’s listed share capital, which now totals 298,326,527.
Other gainers yesterday included the manufacturing sector, up 1.45 per cent, construction companies up 1.92 per cent and technology up 1.83 per cent.
GlobalSoft continued to record small increases and snagged the most-active spot. The stock added one cent to 40 cents after 1.7 million shares were traded.
The only two losing sectors were fish farms, down 0.66 per cent and the ‘other’ companies sector 0.49 per cent. Overall, 89 titles recorded gains, 49 declined and 100 ended the day unchanged.
The bourse will be closed today for the August 15 Holiday.
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.
