By Hamza Hendawi
A TOUCH Of August may have finally come to the Cyprus Stock Exchange. The eighth month has consistently been the quietest by far in the local bourse, with many brokers and investors out of town on holiday, while interest in the market by the unfortunate few left to cope with Nicosia’s suffocating heat is at a low ebb.
But this picture of traditional August apathy could not be farther from the truth this year, with volumes so far uncharacteristically high and the index, surprisingly, making gains.
Of the 13 trading August days up till today, volume topped the £1 million mark five times, reached more than £800,000 on six days, and recorded a modest £712,116 in the August 7 session.
But yesterday’s volume was a reminder that this is still a holiday period. It stood at a mere £501,087. However luckily for those who make a living playing the market, it was way above the kind of lows witnessed in August 1997.
Volume this month last year at times plunged to as low as £200,000.
Like volumes, the official all-share Cyprus Stock Exchange index has not been disappointing either. The index has clawed its way up by a decent 2.21 per cent since the start of the month, closing up yesterday at 86.65, or 0.13 per cent up on Wednesday.
As ever, the blue-chip bank stocks have led the unusual August rally and dominated volume throughout the 13 trading sessions so far this month.
Shares in the Bank of Cyprus, the island’s largest financial institution whose shares are the most traded, gained more than any other bank stock in the August rally. They closed yesterday at £3.69 apiece, an increase of 18 cents since the beginning of the month.
Its closest rival, the Cyprus Popular Bank, closed at £3.80 yesterday, or 10 cents higher than the last day of trade in July. Hellenic Bank shares have also risen by 10 cents so far this month, closing yesterday at £2.68 apiece.
Even the small Universal Savings Bank did well in August, adding on 11 cents since the beginning of the month to close yesterday at £1.95.
The bank was the subject of a takeover rumour early in the week which saw its share rise by a staggering 14 cents on Monday. According to the so-far unconfirmed rumour, Eurobank, a member of Greece’s giant Lanitis conglomerate and one of the largest private banks in that country, planned to buy Universal.
