Shares stage mild rebound, but still in red

Share prices staged a mild rebound from their intra-day lows on Friday, but ended the day sharply lower as the Suphire saga continued to affect investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, the premium that Cyprus had opened over Greece in the pricing of Bank of Cyprus shares on Thursday, closed on Friday, at least by mid-day Sophocleous trading when the BOC shares on the ASE were hovering at EUR 3.18, unchanged on the day, or at the same level as the closing Friday price of BOC shares on the CSE at CYP 1.85.

The CSE Main/Parallel market ended 1.67% lower on Friday at 1214.45 points, the GENX was down 1.33% at 86.56 points and the FTSE/CySE 20 large cap was down 1.69% at 407.83 points.

Total volume amounted to CYP 631.000 on 889 trades, according to AGFN, the CSE data provider with 25 titles closing higher, 105 unchanged and 46 ending lower.

Bank of Cyprus (BOC, down 1.6% at CYP 1.85) was the most active on 95.000 shares volume or the counter value of CYP 175.000 in a range of 1.88-1.84. Laiki Bank (CPB, down 2.9% at CYP 1.34) was the second most active on 79.000 shares volume or CYP 106.000 value in a range of 1.37-1.34. Hellenic Bank (HB, down 2.38% at 41 cent) was the third most active, followed by Pierides Electrical, down 2.36%, Louis Public Co., down 2.34% at 20.9 cent and CLL, down 1.92% at 5.1 cent.

Based on technical considerations, the close on Friday by BOC below 1.87-1.88 support is seen as bearish, possibly leading to more pressure on stocks come Monday. The only reason why shares may stage a rebound is if Greek stocks, and more importantly the shares of BOC trading in Greece stage a rebound, and in turn pull the CSE higher.