A bomb attack against a Cypriot brokerage firm early Tuesday, the third aimed at bourse-related targets in less than a week, sent the Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) sliding downwards for the second day in a row.
No one was injured in the 3:40 a.m. (00:40 GMT) explosion, which was heard across the southern coastal town of Larnaca, but it completely destroyed the offices of the Hailisco brokerage firm and blew out its windows.
The incident followed two bomb explosions last Wednesday, one of which wrecked the 50,000 Cypriote pound ($80,000) Mercedes of a Nicosia stockbroker and the other damaged the offices of a brokerage firm in the coastal town of Paralimini, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Nicosia.
Police believe criminals or disenchanted investors are behind the spate of bombings, which come in the wake of a plunging market. "Those who committed these bombings are the dregs of society ... We have the power to restore order," Police Chief Andreas Angelides told reporters.
He said police believe one person was responsible for the two previous bombings. News of the latest blast sent the market tumbling four percent during Tuesday's CSE session, before a rally towards the end restricted losses to two percent. This followed a three percent decline on Monday.
The CSE index closed on 366 points Tuesday, over 300 points short of January's year high of 699. Most of the losses have come in a prolonged decline since early June.
Investment fever swept the island last year as the market made unprecedented gains, and many ordinary Cypriots stand to make substantial losses as the market falls. Stockbrokers' Association official Andreas Leonidou criticized the police for not taking security measures to protect brokerage firms or taking threats against traders seriously.
"There has been no contact with the police over threats against brokers," he said. "These attacks are not random but appear to be organized by criminals. They want to get into the market. It's very worrying," he added.
Large brokerage firms have been accused in the past by investors of manipulating the market's rapid decline to create bargains for favored clients.
It has shed ten percent of its value and confidence has been severely shaken since the bomb attacks. Hailisco told journalists Tuesday it had done nothing wrong. "People are wrong if they think they can affect the market by planting bombs. They will not succeed," said Leonidou.
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
