The equity market persisted with its rally into uncharted territory yesterday with buying activity remaining predominantly strong practically across all companies listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. The biggest action was in Maltacom which was also the day's top gainer. Hefty buying activity saw the equity gain a whopping 13c5 or 6.9 per cent to trade "limit up" on the day at Lm2.08,5.
Investors put caution to the wind and purchased HSBC Bank Malta all the way up to the Lm9.19,9 level, a fresh all time record high, on expectations of positive full year results. The day's trades consisted of 14,933 shares which were exchanged across 37 transactions, incredulously creating more than Lm31 million in shareholder wealth in a single session.
Bank of Valletta suffered slightly as the price declined by almost two per cent down to Lm3.88. Investors sold out to book profits after the recent run, which saw massive gains bestow the share price following the one-for-one bonus issue. Healthy activity in International Hotel Investments helped the equity recover 5.7 per cent to close the session at €0.899.
Simonds Farsons Cisk gained a penny on 2,000 shares traded to close at Lm0.85, while activity in FIMBank, Malta International Airport and Datatrak Holdings did not affect their previous closing prices.
Wall Street seen higher on Exxon profit
Wall Street opened slightly higher yesterday, with a surge in quarterly earnings from ExxonMobil offsetting weaker numbers from Kodak to keep investors in a buying mood.
Just before the market opened, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 10 points. Contracts on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were almost unchanged, although a fair value comparison suggested a higher start.
European shares turned flat yesterday, with mixed performances from steelmakers after Paris-listed Arcelor rejected the £18.6 billion hostile takeover approach from the UK's Mittal Steel.
By mid-morning, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.1 per cent, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax was up 0.1 per cent, while in Paris, the CAC-40 shed 0.2 per cent. Takeover talk in the retail sector after a bid for HMV, the music retailer, provided the main talking point in the London market in morning trade yesterday.
The FTSE 100 was down 2.2 points or 0.1 per cent, with downward pressure coming from the banking sector after its strong run toward the end of 2005 left it open to further profit taking. Rising crude prices helped oil majors provide support. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was 0.5 per cent lower.
Japanese shares were boosted on Monday by the recent rally in US shares, but the rises were inconsistent, leaving both main indices up only moderately.
The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.6 per cent, with the Topix up 0.8 per cent.
News of a seasonally adjusted 1.4 per cent rise in Japan's industrial production in December added to the generally bullish market sentiment. Industrial production rose 2.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, the biggest gain in two years.