Laiki touches CYP 3.00 backed by Marfin

Laiki Bank (CPB) shares powered ahead on Wednesday on the CSE touching the psychological level of CYP 3.00 for the first time in many months, backed by steady buying interest from Marfin Financial Group.

CPB shares touched the CYP 3.00 level in intra-day trading, only to close at CYP 2.99 for a 1.35% gain on CYP 1.8 mln volume. On Wednesday, the CSE announced the purchase of 119.094 shares of CPB by Marfin at the price of CYP 2.95, with observers estimating that recent purchases by Marfin must be now just under 1 mln level.

Analysts told the Financial Mirror that “getting to the CYP 3.00 level was the easy part, since it had to happen ahead of the Laiki EGM called for October 24, which will ratify the three-way merger with Marfin and Egnatia. The big question is where we go from here and by how far higher Marfin will continue to buy, which in turn will reinforce confidence in the stock.”

Elsewhere, Bank of Cyprus (BOC) closed 0.22% higher at CYP 4.57 or EUR 7.93 on CYP 870k volume, followed by Hellenic Bank (HB), which hit another record closing high of CYP 1.52, for a daily gain of 0.66% on CYP 427k volume.

The CSE GENX closed 0.64% firmer at 2979.23 on total volume of CYP 5.73 mln with 64 titles closing higher, 34 lower, 20 unchanged and 41 having no trades, according to the CSE.