Stock Exchange.

More than half of the trade came from Bank of Bermuda Shares, which rose by $5.00 to close at $36.00 - up 16.13 percent in just one week.

The hike comes after the Government said it is looking at reviewing 6 0/40 ownership rules, which could allow the bank to float on the Nasdaq.

A large number of Bank of Butterfield shares also changed hands -- 57,079 or $870,400 worth -- but the price only rose 5 cents to $15.25.

Argus Insurance rose by 50 cents or 3.03 percent to $17.00 as did BF&M preferred shares which closed at $9.50. KeyTech, which owns Logic and BTC, saw prices reach $32.50 -- up $3.00 or 10.17 percent following changes in the telecommunications laws.

BELCO also rose 40 cents to $19.65. The only other change was BF&M shares, which dropped $1.75 or 25.93 percent.

The index, which was adjusted up by 176.92 points in a six monthly review closed at 1,673.96 -- officially recording no change due to the new balance.

144,308 shares worth $2,995,664.60 changed hands. No bonds were traded.

B OF BUTTERFIELD IN SHARE PURCHASE STK B of Butterfield in share purchase The Bank of Butterfield has bought back some of its own shares, it was announced late last week.

The Bermuda Stock Exchange was advised that the Bank or its subsidiaries had acquired 197,143 of its own shares under the share repurchase programme announced on January 5.

BMA RELEASES 1Q STATISTICS GVT BUC BMA releases 1Q statistics Bermuda dollar deposits made by non-residents have nearly doubled in the past year, but have not changed since the last quarter of 1999, according to first quarter statistics released recently by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

There were $71 million of such deposits held in Bermuda banks at the end of June this year. The figure compares to only $40 million at the same time in 1999, an increase of 77.5 percent.

The report also indicates the foreign currency loans to residents increased by 24.1 percent to $273 million over the past year, but were down from the previous quarter's figure, when $277 million in foreign currency loans were handed out.

Foreign currency assests of the banks and deposit companies has steadily risen to $14.4 billion, making for a 11.7 percent gain on last year's Q1 figures and a 7.2 percent increase over the previous quarter.

The BMA's first quarter report also indicates that investment in Bermuda-based collective schemes -- mutual funds and unit trusts -- has gone up by nearly 31 percent over 1999. $36.70 billion was invested in 1,184 mutual funds and 117 unit trusts as of June 30, up from $28.05 billion the same time last year. The most recent figure was also up over that of the previous quarter, when $33.93 billion was invested.

The number of Bermuda-based funds and trusts has also increased by 13.4 and 10.4 percent, respectively, since a year ago when 1,044 mutual funds and 106 unit trusts were registered.