Bank of Cyprus

Greek stocks continued to ride the wave of satisfaction from the US interest rate cut, on top of which came the boosting measures China announced on Tuesday.

The Greek stock market had its best session in a “deep” month today (23/9). After a sluggish start, buyers turned active with banks spearheading the rally, which gained more than +2%. In this way, the X.A. broke out of the “bottleneck” of 1,420-1,430 points, in which it had been “trapped”.

The rebalancing of the FTSE indexes injected fresh interest into the Greek stock market on Monday, with turnover rising and more than 90% of it concerning blue chips. The general picture on the board was mixed, with the main index and the large-caps dropping lower and the mid-caps rising.

The Greek stock market is in “repression”, as evidenced by the stagnation picture it has shown this week. Traders settled for selective moves and stayed away from the high rhythms of the international markets. Athens did not “seize” the opportunity yesterday, when the major markets moved to record levels, and was left today to tune in to their corrective tendencies.

Bank of Cyprus is lowering the reference interest rate on loans linked to the European Central Bank's (ECB) base rate, effective this Wednesday. The rate will drop from 4.25% to 3.65%, following the ECB's recent interest rate reductions.

An extraordinary annual general meeting approved Bank of Cyprus' return to the Athens Stock Exchange with a concurrent delisting from the London Stock Exchange by an almost absolute majority.

Takis Arapoglou, chairman of the board of directors, stated that the ATHEX relisting "is the next step in our journey to further enhance the bank's profile." 

Greek stocks continued their decline on Tuesday, with the benchmark of the market containing its losses somewhat thanks to the reaction by Coca-Cola HBC (the stock with the highest capitalization on the bourse) and National Bank (following five straight southbound sessions).

The inability of buyers to react showed today’s (10/9) third consecutive session of losses on the Greek stock market. Although initially the General Index had recovered above 1,440 points, sellers then took the reins again and led the market below 1,430 points.

Bank of Cyprus will switch its stock market listing to Athens from London next month, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, the lender has said.

The bank has called a shareholders meeting in Nicosia on September 13 to approve the move, it said, adding that the company plans to list its shares on the Athens Stock Exchange on September 23.

Sellers regained the reins of the domestic market, as part of consolidating some of the gains from the two-day upward reaction on August 6-7, following the -6.27% “Black Monday” (August 5).