BOC rallies, Cyprus equities to reverse losses

Bank of Cyprus shares trading in Greece staged a spectacular rally on Friday, jumping 5.68% to close at EUR 7.44 or CYP 4.28, in sharp contrast to a big plunge on the CSE and a weaker Sophocleous, indicating that when trading resumes on Monday, the CSE will recover.

Major funds were heavy buyers on Friday, lifting the BOC shares from an intra-day low of EUR 6.96 or CYP 4.00 to a closing high of EUR 7.44 or CYP 4.28 with 2.5 mln shares changing hands for a total volume of EUR 18 mln or CYP 10.35 mln.

In contrast, the BOC shares on the CSE plunged another 3.8% Friday to end at CYP 4.10, taking their weekly losses to 8.7%. Since the start of the year however, the BOC shares are up 56% including this week’s losses.

The BOC weakness took a heavy toll on the CSE GENX, which closed 3.06% lower at 2646.49 on CYP 7.2 mln volume. The GENX is also up some 55% since the start of the year, including this week’s losses.

Total volume on the BOC shares Friday amounted to CYP 2.33 mln making the stock the most active. The second most active stock was Laiki Bank shares, closing 1.44% lower at CYP 2.73 on CYP 1.5 mln volume. In third place were the shares of Hellenic Bank, down 3.94% at CYP 1.22 on CYP 1.1 mln volume, followed by the Laiki rights, down 3.18% at CYP 1.52 and SFS, down 1.8% at 10.7 cent on CYP 104k volume.

By mid-afternoon Friday, major European markets were also moving higher. The FTSE100 was up 0.07% at 5675 points, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.8% at 4948 points and the German DAX was up 0.11% at 5672 points.

European stocks moved up on the back of gains by reseource producers, while mergers topped the agenda as Mittal Steel raised its hostile bid for Arcelor.