Enjoy Rendering!: Сборник текстов для перевода и реферирования. Батурина С.А. - 18 стр.

                          Med Sea Bubble                                    tion volumes have been restricted to 2 000 per session (a figure hit in
                                                                            the first 13 minutes of one day last week).
       Even as Alan Greenspan frets about how to handle America’s                  Although the central bank has tried talking the market down, and
stock-market, bubble-watchers should spare a thought for policymakers       has asked banks to stop lending to would-be punters, they show no sign
on the sun-soaked Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Investors there are       of cooling. Almost every day since the exchange reopened, it has hit a
taking stock-market mania to new heights.                                   new high, despite the retreat of foreign investors and Cypriot institu-
       When it opened three years ago in Nicosia, the Greek-Cypriot         tions. New listings are lapped up : a recent one was 50 times oversub-
capital, the Cyprus Stock Exchange seemed set for a quiet life, with        scribed. Dinos Papadopoulos, the exchange's chairman, is hoping for an
daily turnover last year rarely topping 3m Cypriot pounds ($1,6m).          orderly correction. He sees the euphoric mood "continuing for a while,
This year, huge demand for its 50-odd shares has pushed the index up        but after that it's hard to predict". Really?
by more than 500 %. Daily trading volumes have topped $200m, and
traders scarcely flinch when the index jumps by 15 % in a day. Share              1. Vocabulary notes:
valuations are in the stratosphere: Bank of Cyprus, the largest listed            1) fret – волноваться, тревожиться
firm, has a price-earnings ratio of 70. What is going on?                         2) mania – мания, увлечение
       One reason for the surge is that Cyprus is seen as a convergence           3) flinch – отступать, уклоняться
play – yes, really – now that it is in talks to join the European Union;          4) valuation – оценка, определение стоимости
the prospect of closer ties with Greece, an EU member, has also                   5) surge – волна, резкий скачок
boosted takeover activity. Another factor is the increasing prospect of a         6) boost – поднимать, поддерживать, повышать
political settlement of Cyprus's long-standing division into Greek and            7) herd – стадо, толпа
Turkish zones. Cyprus has also become a favourite destination for Rus-            8) pile in – забираться (куда-то), толпиться
sian money, some of which goes into the stock-market.                             9) fittingly – надлежащим образом, соответственно
       The main factor, though, has been simple herd mentality. As                10) adult – взрослый, зрелый, совершеннолетний
soon as returns on shares started looking decent, ordinary Cypriots               11) savvy – смекалка, здравый смысл
piled in. Some have bet their life savings on the market; others have             12) fundamental – принцип, основы
borrowed to buy shares. Fittingly, in a country where beach restaurants           13) rip-off – воровство, грабеж, мошенничество, плагиат
tend to raise prices rather than mark them down in the slow season, the           14) bewildered – озадаченный, сбитый с толку
amateur investors – reckoned to be one in four adults – are more enthu-           15) backlog – резерв, запас; отставание
siastic than financially savvy. Mamoun Tazi of Salomon Smith Barney               16) slump up – выкладывать деньги, платить наличными
says most look at absolute numbers rather than fundamentals. A share              17) talk down – перекричать, говорить с кем-либо свысока
priced at 3 Cypriot pounds is good value; one costing 3 000 Cypriot               18) punter – профессиональный игрок (на бирже)
pounds sounds like a rip-off. Small wonder that listed companies have             19) bubble – дутое предприятие; волнение, шум (моря)
been "adding value" by splitting their shares into smaller units.                 20) lap up – глотать, поглощать, умываться (перен.)
       All of which has caused plenty of headaches for the financial au-          21) orderly – планомерно, организованно, регулярно
thorities. The exchange was forced to close for most of September so              22) oversubscribe – превысить намеченную сумму
that bewildered brokers could clear a backlog of some 60 000 orders.              23) 50-odd – 50 с лишним
Investors must now stump up cash before placing buy orders; transac-



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