Larger banks decline

during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange as investors booked profits after six continuous sessions of gains.

HSBC Bank Malta was the day's top losers as the equity fell by 40c2 or 3.6 per cent, to close the day at Lm10.59,8. During the session a total of 54,916 shares were exchanged across 170 transactions.

Bank of Valletta was the day's most liquid equity with a grand total of 75,667 shares being exchanged across 136 trades. The equity traded between the Lm4.80 and Lm4.90, closing the session 6c lower at Lm4.84.

Low volume buying activity in Lombard Bank saw the equity rally by a further 49c to top Lm10.50, as a mere 618 shares were exchanged across seven transactions. Investors continued to react positively to FIMBank's full year results, purchasing the security all the way up to the $2.51 level, before supply hit the market and the equity closed at $2.48.

International Hotel Investments recouped nicely from its recent slump, gaining 2.2 per cent on 8,713 shares which were purchased across eight transactions all the way up to the €0.98 level. A slightly lower percentage gain was registered by Malta International Airport which climbed back up to Lm1.59,9 on a total turnover of 3,300 shares.

Elsewhere Global Financial Services Group closed the session at Lm1.37 after temporarily touching the Lm1.40 level, while Simonds Farsons Cisk declined 0c5 or 0.5 per cent as 600 shares were sold down to Lm0.89.

Tokyo shares follow Wall Street lower

The Japanese stock market was in an uncharacteristically calm mood yesterday, following recent volatility. Chip-related stocks fell after overnight declines for their US rivals, depressing the Nikkei 225, which has a high weighting for technology shares. The index ended the day down 0.7 per cent. But the Topix - the index preferred by most fund managers - fell only 0.2 per cent, buoyed by the strong performance of steel stocks.

European equity markets traded slightly lower by lunchtime after overnight declines in Japan and on Wall Street and amid continuing concern about high energy prices. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell just one point or 0.1 per cent while the Xetra Dax lost 9.3 points. After an initial fall, the French CAC 40 recovered to trade 13.4 points or 0.3 per cent higher.

London equities fell yesterday thanks to losses overnight on Wall Street and two blue chip heavyweights moving ex-dividend.

The FTSE 100 was down 16.9 points or 0.3 per cent in late morning trade while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was off 9.4 points or 0.1 per cent at 9,449.5.

Wall Street fell on Tuesday as strong results from the retail sector, rising oil prices and better-than-forecast economic data fuelled inflationary fears and expectations of more aggressive interest rate increases.

By the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 per cent at 11,069.06, while the S&P 500 was 0.3 per cent lower at 1,283.03 and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.9 per cent at 2,262.49.

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