Cyprus bourse in high spirits
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus stocks are staging a comeback after months of languishing in the doldrums as investors start to hope mediators will solve the island’s decades-old division before it becomes an EU member in about two years. In trading sessions reminiscent of 1999, when the all-share index rose a staggering 688 percent before the bubble burst, investors are inching their way back into the market. Mounting speculation of a UN peace plan, European Union membership virtually guaranteed and a suspension of military exercises planned by Greece, Cyprus and Turkey on the island have combined to pierce investors’ despondency. In the past 15 days the market has risen more than 16 percent. It added another 2.67 percent yesterday. «It is politically driven,» said Stavros Agrotis, senior trader at CISCO, the brokerage arm of Bank of Cyprus. «Investors feel (the possibility of) a solution.»
