Financial News

Equities continued to rally during yesterday's session at the Malta Stock Exchange although selling activity started to intensify with certain investors booking profits following the recent rise in prices.

Maltacom was the day's top gainer, as investors bought shares following upbeat comments by Sonny Portelli, chairman of the board of directors, on the forthcoming interim results given during a newspaper interview.

The day's activity was for a total of 26,695 shares were transacted across 17 trades pushing the price four cents or 2.8 per cent higher to close at Lm1.43.

Activity in Lombard Bank was relatively muted with just 482 shares being transacted across two trades.

But this was enough to see the price better by 15c or 2.4 per cent to close at Lm6.50.

FIMBank shares, which traded for the first time since annoucing an after tax profit of $1.64 million in its half yearly results, gained 2.7 per cent on the day to close at $1.49.

Buyers continued to nibble at any available supply in HSBC Bank Malta shares. This helped the price to register an intra-day high of Lm5.83. But selling activity in the dying minutes of the session saw that gain diminish to just a single penny.

On the contrary, Bank of Valletta shares dropped a penny to close the day at Lm5.30, while Malta International Airport moved higher by the slimmest of margins as two investors swapped 5,250 shares at the Lm1.36,2 level.

Construction sector supports European stocks

European stocks were higher yesterday after a strong overnight rally on Wall Street as oil prices slipped from record levels, with technology and construction stocks among the biggest gainers. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.6 per cent to 1,184.79, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax gained 0.6 per cent to 4,860.41. In Paris, the CAC-40 added 0.7 per cent to 4,429.46 and London's FTSE 100 climbed 0.7 per cent to 5,333.8.

In London, Exel shares jumped 16 per cent to £11.66 after it said it had received an approach from Deutsche Post. The market has been predicting a deal involving Exel for some time, and Deutsche Post has long been seen as one of the most likely suitors.

Stocks in the US gained as oil prices eased in response to the government's announcement that it would release supplies from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, while Gulf coast energy installations come back on line.

This left the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.7 per cent to 10,481.6, while the Nasdaq Composite added 1.1 per cent to 2,152.09.

Japan's Nikkei 225 share index jumped to a four-year closing high yesterday, as relief at the news of a fall in oil prices mingled with strong optimism on the prospect of a domestic economic recovery. The Nikkei 225 closed the day up 0.8 per cent at 12,506.97. The Topix rose 0.9 per cent to 1,277.33.