Bank of Cyprus shares powered ahead to close Wednesday at EUR 8 or CYP 4.60 on the Athens Stock Exchange on 1.5 mln shares volume, opening the spread with the CSE to nearly 10c, after the BOC shares ended at CYP 4.51 on the CSE. The Hellenic Bank shares meanwhile powered ahead to yet another

Watch out house prices The price of construction materials continues to rise faster than overall consumer prices. According to the Statistical Service CYSTAT, the price index of construction materials for August 2006 reached 132.41 units (base year 2000=100.00), recording a rise of 5.9% compared with August 2005, while inflation in the same month was 3.1%.

Civil engineering booms, hotels out of favour The number of building permits authorised rose by 11% year on year to reach 837 in June and provided for 1,739 dwelling units. For the first six months as a whole, building permits rose by 11.6% compared with the same period of 2005. Their value lagged slightly, rising

The Board of Directors of Universal Bank Pcl (USB) rejected the public offer for the acquisition of a minimum of 50% plus one share and a maximum 60% of the issued share capital of the company, at a cash consideration of CYP 0.90 per share, by Aspis Pronia A.E.G.A. and ‘Commercial Value A.A.E.’. The BoD

The move above the 1.2800 resistance area proved to be short lived after better than expected US resale data forced the late dollar shorts to cover positions. With the near term top at 1.2820 in place, there is a good chance to see a continuation of the mild correction to 1.2720, assuming that US data

A decision by a Cypriot judge to block the roaming income of Telsim, the Turkish telecom that was recently acquired by Vodafone has forced the British multinational from transferring such roaming income generated in Europe to Turkey, raising a barrage of protest among Turkish circles. A Cyprus court granted an interim order request filed by