Cyprus stocks extend losses to 70%, Ethniki dives

Cyprus shares plunged on Thursday, joining the global stock market demise, with the CSE Main/Parallel index closing at 1437.71 points, a loss of 6.14% on the day on total volume of EUR 11 mln.
The Thursday plunge took the index to levels not seen since October 2005. Since the start of the year, the CSE index is down a whopping 70.18%, the worst among eurozone countries.
Bank of Cyprus was marked sharply lower in tandem with a plunge in the share price of National Bank of Greece on the Athens Stock Exchange where it also trades amid rumours that major investment houses and hedge funds were selling both stocks heavily.
Bank of Cyprus ended 5.05% lower at EUR 3.76, while during Thursday it also touched a 3-year low of EUR 3.60. Since the beginning of the year, BOC shares are down 71.11%.
In Greece, Bank of Cyprus closed at EUR 3.68, down 5.64% in tandem with a plunge in the share price of National Bank of Greece, which closed 12.59% at EUR 14.16 amid fears that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs had opened a book building to dump their substantial stakes in Greece’s largest lender. Both firms denied the rumours. Meanwhile, NBG is reported to be seriously considering to bring forward the announcement of its 9-month results, initially scheduled for November 27 amid reports that the “results include many pleasant surprises.”
Back in Cyprus, Marfin Popular Bank, which was the most active, dived 8.14% to EUR 2.37, also a 3-year low, taking its year-to-date losses to 74.34% while Hellenic Bank closed at EUR 1.32 for y-t-d losses of 71.3%.