BOC stable after broker reports

Bank of Cyprus shares moved marginally higher on Friday from their Thursday slump, bringing some sort of stability to the CSE, which had corrected sharply lower on Thursday in tandem with the BOC decline.

BOC shares closed Friday at CYP 3.23, up 0.9% on the day on CYP 2.15 mln volume, which was just short of half of the total CYP 4.95 mln transacted on the CSE Friday.

BOC shares in Greece closed 0.71% higher at EUR 5.68 or CYP 3.25 on 2.56 mln shares volume for a value of EUR 15.05 mln or CYP 8.62 mln.

Following the announcement of the new targets by the Bank, three brokerage firms issued new forecasts on the Bank. P&K of Greece said the BOC share price fully reflects its fundamentals, placing a price target of EUR 6.15 or CYP 3.52 per share.

P&K increased its 2006 profit forecast for the Bank by 4.4% while for 2007, it expects an 8% improvement.

Egnatia Financial Services meanwhile issued an accumulate signal on BOC with a price target of EUR 5.90 or CYP 3.38, the recent all-time high, which was also the high since January 2001.

The US based Keef Bruyette & Woods meanwhile lifted its price target on BOC from the previous EUR 5 level to EUR 6.13 or CYP 3.50 amid positive prospects in view of the expansion plans in Greece and the successful restructuring drive in Cyprus.

Meanwhile, Laiki Bank was 2.25% lower at CYP 2.17 on Friday following the announcement of the deal whereby HSBC disposed of its 21.1% stake in the Bank to Marfin, an investment company and Laiki staff.

Hellenic Bank was up 2.7% at 0.76 cent, followed by SFS up 3.26% at 9.5 cent, while CLL closed at 4.3 cent.

The CSE GENX closed 0.33% higher at 2058.59 points.