Hellenic Bank rally cut short on Cyprus bourse

Hellenic Bank’s five day rally last week was cut short as the stock fell on Monday and Tuesday, wiping out the gains of the past few days and dragging the Cyprus Stock Exchange Index down with it.
HB, that peaked above 11c last week, following the mammoth investment deal that recapitalised the bank by more than 350 mln euros, traded down 5.4% on Monday to 10.4c and a further 1.9% on Tuesday, closing at 10.2c, unclear if it will hold above the 10c level, as sellers returned to the market.
The CSE Index, too, recorded losses, dropping 2% on Monday and 0.7% on Tuesday to end at 116.5 points.
Volume also started to mellow with the more than 1 mln euros traded last week reaching 244,000 euros on Monday and lower at 162,000 on Tuesday. However, these volume are still much higher than the paltry trades seen throughout this year, with some days recording less than 10,000 euros worth of shares.
On the other hand, Demetra Investments, one of the three institutionals that pumped 100 mln euros into the bank, saw its stock trading at healthy levels, due to its widespread portfolio and limited exposure to the Cyprus market and its troubles.
New York-based hedge fund Third Point LLC, online gaming developer Wargaming.net and local investment house Demetra together bought shares, bonds and rights that remained unexercised after the bank's 294 mln euro issue to meet European liquidity rules.
This gave the bank a capital surplus of some 60 mln euros and pushed the stock price to levels last seen in July, at the height of the banking and financial crisis that gripped Cyprus.