BOC in solo rally to new highs

Bank of Cyprus shares made a solo rally on the Cyprus Stock Exchange as Cypriot investors rushed to mark the Bank’s shares 13c or 3.62% higher in a vain attempt to keep pace with the spectacular rally on the ASE, where the BOC shares closed at yet another record high.

Foreign fund managers continued to buy the BOC shares through the ASE, driving it on Thursday to another record close of EUR 6.70 or CYP 3.85, up 0.9% on the high on 2.5 mln shares volume for a value of EUR 17 mln or CYP 9.8 mln. The BOC rally in Greece was at more than double the pace of the increase in the ASE General index, which closed 0.41% higher at a fresh record of 4238.78.

In Cyprus, BOC shares made a solo rally, up 13 cent or 3.62% to CYP 3.72, taking their year-to-day gains to 41% on heavy volume of CYP 4.4 mln, which was about half of the total CYP 8.62 mln volume transacted on the CSE.

Laiki Bank shares were the second most active on CYP 1.6 mln volume, but ended 0.38% lower on the day at CYP 2.63, despite the release of the preliminary results for 2005, whereby Laiki lifted net profits by 102% and doubled the dividend per share to 6 cent from 3 cent a year earlier.

Hellenic Bank shares followed next on CYP 554k volume, closing unchanged at 86 cent.

Louis Public Co. was the fourth most active stock, ending 1.82% higher at a fresh record of 28 cent on CYP 421k volume. Next was Lanitis Bros., which saw 382.500 shares tendered in at the bid price of 17.2 cent in cash. SFS Group Public Co. and CLR Investment Fund were also active, ending at 9.7 cent and 5.2 cent respectively.

The GENX surged 2.37% on the day to a fresh record close of 2374.91 points, taking its gains since the start of the year to 39%.