Financial News

Sentiment remained intact when the Malta Stock Exchange reopened its door yesterday, with investors pushing up pricing to increasingly higher levels.

Activity was well sustained and was mainly concentrated among the three big caps. The Malta Stock Exchange Index rallied by a full percentage point, to 3,940 points fuelled by continuous gains in the banking sector.

HSBC Bank Malta has gained 5.8 per cent over the course of the week with activity remaining particularly strong. A total of 34,467 shares, having a market consideration in excess of Lm200,000 were struck yesterday, with the share price closing at a new record level of Lm6.20.

A similar trading performance was registered by FIMBank, with the share price benefiting mainly from a thin supply side. In effect at yesterday's close, a mere 458 shares remained supplied on the market at the session's closing level of $1.80.

Also in the banking sector shares of Bank of Valletta pushed 0c1 further, to close at a new record price of Lm5.50. Profit taking hit the equity towards the middle of the session with the share price touching a temporary low of Lm5.46, but managed to regain the Lm5.50 by the close.

Maltacom shares also closed at a multi-month high of Lm1.59 after touching a level of Lm1.60 towards the beginning of the session. Volume remained heavily sustained with an aggregate 56,080 shares traded across 42 deals.

In the rest of the market, shares of Malta International Airport consolidated their previous closing level of Lm1.39, while Middlesea shares eased back by 5c on a ridiculous volume.

In the fixed income market turnover was spread between four corporate issues and six government stock.

Nikkei makes strong gains ahead of elections in Japan

Japanese stocks rose sharply to a new four-year closing high yesterday, as investors relaxed ahead of tomorrow's election. The Nikkei 225 ended trading up 1.3 per cent at 12,692.04. The Topix rose 1.1 per cent to 1,293.35. Foreign investors in particular were reassured by polls on the eve of Japan's general election, which pointed to an overall majority by the present Liberal Democratic party-led coalition.

Europe's bourses were stronger despite a weak Wall Street overnight though the Xetra Dax bounced below the 5,000 level again. Raised profit revenue targets from Texas Instrument in the US supported the technology sector. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.1 per cent to 1,204.0594 with the CAC-40 in Paris up 0.3 per cent to 4,480.13. The Xetra Dax flirted again with the 5,000 level, territories last seen in May 2002, hitting 5,020.47 but eased to 4,990.26, down 0.1 per cent. The FTSE 100 in London was 0.1 per cent ahead at 5,348.8.

Wall Street stocks drifted modestly lower after a strong rally in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, suggesting Wall Street is confident despite disappointing earnings news. At the close, the S&P 500 eased 0.4 per cent, to 1,231.68, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.4 per cent, to 10,595.93 and the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.3 per cent, to 2,166.03.

Crude futures for October delivery gained 19 cents to $64.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, even though a report showed inventories fell less than expected after Katrina.