Cyprus equities track Greek shares to record lows

Cyprus shares ended 7% lower on Friday, joining their peers around the world in diving to record new lows as the plunge in share prices showed no signs of easing.

The CSE Main/Parallel index ended at a fresh 3 year low of 1337.13, down 7% on the day on EUR 11.55 mln volume. Since the beginning of the year, the CSE index is down 72.26% according to Financial Mirror data. 

Bank of Cyprus closed Friday at EUR 3.50 for a 6.91% decline on the day, bouncing off from its session low of EUR 3.24, at which point its year-to-date losses amounted to 74%. In Greece, where the Bank of Cyprus shares also trade, the shares ended 9.24% lower at EUR 3.34 in tandem with a major decline in all Greek banking shares. 

Athens plunge
The Athens Stock Exchange meanwhile plunged 9.71% on the day to 1728.49 as the shares of National Bank of Greece went into a free-fall. Earlier, the ASE was marked 16% lower, its worst performance since 1989.
NBG shares ended 16.10% lower at EUR 11.88. Even a comment by Dresdner ridiculing the dive in the price of Ethniki and its assessment that the Bank is one of its top European picks with a price target of EUR 50/share failed to boost sentiment amid reports that over-exposed foreign hedge funds are selling their holdings at all cost, to shore up capital to meet margin calls on other positions. 

Marfin Popular Bank shares, which were again the most active on the CSE closed 7.17% lower at EUR 2.20, well above their session low of EUR 1.99, at which point, the year-to-date losses reached 78%.
Hellenic Bank shares ended 7.52% lower on the day at EUR 1.23, well above their session low of 1.13, at which point, their ytd losses amounted to 75.5%.