Weakness in Maltacom shares

The market in general moved sideways during yesterday's session as losses in three equities were offset by gains in the financial sector.

Maltacom tumbled seven percentage points to Lm2.04,6 as the market reacted negatively to a local newspaper article over the weekend which cautioned that the price may have risen too much over a short period of time. Sellers quickly flooded the market with their offers, while buyers removed or lowered their bids. As a consequence, Lm15.6 million was wiped off from the company's capitalisation in a single day, although only 21,190 shares were actually exchanged during the session.

HSBC Bank Malta attracted the highest value of trades as 39,461 shares, carrying a market consideration of Lm359,445, were exchanged across 66 trades. The equity gained 14c to close the day at Lm9.19, just a whisker away from its all time high.

Trading in Bank of Valletta was characterised by continued buying activity which saw investors willing to pay a further 5c per share to help the price close at yet another record high of Lm4.35.

Global Financial Services Group gained 5c or 4 per cent to close the session at Lm1.29 as 4,000 shares were purchased in rapid succession soon after the market opened. Likewise, Middlesea Insurance closed 5c higher at a multi-year high of Lm4.45.

Single transactions in International Hotel Investments and Malta International Airport brought declines to their prices which closed at €0.999 and Lm1.57 respectively. Elsewhere in the market, Simonds Farsons Cisk closed higher by the slimmest of margins.

Broker upgrades help London stocks higher

Upgrades for Scottish & Newcastle and Lloyds TSB helped London equity markets start the week in positive territory. Shares in Scottish & Newcastle, maker of John Smiths bitter and Newcastle Brown ale, rose 2.8 per cent to 514p after Merrill Lynch upped its recommendation on the stock from "neutral" to "buy". Lloyds TSB gained 1.1 per cent to 555p after Deutsche Bank upgraded the bank ahead of its results later this month.

Europe's bourses were slightly higher yesterday after Wall Street climbed late on Friday as the price of oil fell below $62 a barrel and the euro hit a six-week low against the dollar. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.1 per cent to 1,325.57 with Xetra Dax in Frankfurt fractionally higher at 5,703.08, the CAC-40 up 0.2 per cent to 4,920.12 and the FTSE 100 0.2 per cent ahead at 5,773.1. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 closed down 0.5 per cent at 1,324.8 points on Friday.

Strong falls in both commodity and domestically focused stocks led the Japanese market down yesterday. The Nikkei 225 closed 2.3 per cent lower at 15,877.66, the first time the index had closed below 16,000 since January 26. The Topix down 2.5 per cent to 1,618.01. Upstream oil companies fell in response to lower crude oil prices. Teikoku Oil was down 7.3 per cent to Y1,604, with Inpex down 7.5 per cent to Y1,110,000.

The financial news was compiled by Valletta Fund Management (tel. 8007 2344) and BOV Stockbrokers Ltd (2275 1732)