Big caps lose out

The equity market produced quite a negative showing yesterday, with the three major equities finishing in the red. In effect, activity was rather poor on both the equity and corporate bond markets, while significant volumes were traded in government bonds.

The Malta Stock Exchange index ended the session down by 0.5 per cent to 3,362 points. Maltacom shares were the main drag on the index, losing 1.7 per cent to Lm1.375. Trading in the equity consisted of 8,556 shares which were transacted across eight deals.

In the banking sector, shares of HSBC Bank Malta and Bank of Valletta continued to move in tandem. In effect, both equities registered a 2c loss in yesterday's session, closing at Lm4.81 and Lm4.82, respectively. As was the case in the past few days, turnover in BoV shares remained particularly low.

On the corporate bond market, the day's activity was spread between two issues, the 6.7 per cent Corinthia Finance 2009 and the 6.15 per cent BoV 2010. The latter managed to end the session with a slight gain in price, moving up to Lm105.

By contrast activity on the government stock market was particularly strong, with an aggregate 213,300 nominal transacted across eleven issues. Price fluctuations were limited to three stocks, with two long term bonds gaining in price and a short-term bond suffering a loss.

Valletta Fund Management Ltd and BoV Stockbrokers Ltd