No reaction to ERM2 in markets

Share prices hardly moved on Wednesday, the first day of trading after the long Easter break and the weekend news that Cyprus, together with Malta and Latvia had been accepted into the ERM2, while the Cyprus pound also showed no particular movement.

The CSE Main and Parallel market index closed Wednesday at 1210.93 points, for a gain of 0.02% compared to last Thursday, while the FTSE/CySe 20 large cap index ended 0.09% lower at 406.04 points. The CSE GENX (old) index ended 0.53% higher at 85.99 points.

Total volume amounted to CYP 290.289 on 374 trades with 14 titles closing higher, 19 down, 22 unchanged while there were no trades on 116 titles.

Bank of Cyprus (BOC) closed at CYP 1.78, unchanged on 43.688 shares volume, Laiki Bank (CPB) closed unchanged at CYP 1.44 on 16.521 shares volume while Hellenic Bank (HB) closed 0.23% higher at 43.50 cent on 28.644 shares volume, according to AGFN, the CSE data provider.

Louis Public Co. (LUI) was 0.93% lower at 21.3 cent and SFS closed 1.28% lower at 7.77 cent.

The Cyprus pound on the other hand was stable against the euro at a central rate of 0.5818 (1.7188) in a 0.5801 to 0.5835 spread, which is exactly the same as on last Thursday before the market closed for the Easter break and entry into ERM2. Against the dollar, the Cyprus pound (CYP) crept higher, tracking the euro/dollar movement and by 13.30 was trading at 0.4488 (2.2282) in a 0.4474 to 0.4501 spread.