Financial News

The Malta Stock Exchange index ended significantly in negative territory, down by an impressive 4.4 per cent to 5,935.9 points, thus reversing practically all the gains of the past week.

Further dumping of HSBC Bank Malta shares resulted in the equity closing the day down by 6.6 per cent as more investors continued to take profits out of the recent rally. Initially, the share price remained stable at around Lm10.50, but fell dramatically in the last minutes to the closing level of Lm9.90.

Similarly Bank of Valletta shares ended the day in the red as the share price dipped by five per cent, down to Lm4.60.

Lombard Bank Malta ended a stretch of considerable gains, as the share price took a breather when it fell by 1.4 per cent, to Lm10.35.

FIMBank shares bucked the trend in the banking sector, gaining almost one per cent on the strength of the recent full year results published early on during the week. The share price ended the day at a record close of $2.50.

Another heavy decliner proved to be Malta International Airport whose shares fell by 6.2 per cent to the Lm1.50 level. Also negative ended shares of Maltacom which closed the day down by 0.5 per cent, to Lm1.99.

In the remaining trades for the day, gains were registered in Simonds Farsons Cisk and Middlesea Insurance which advanced by one per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

Weak oils push bourses lower

European equity markets were dragged lower by weakness in the oil sector yesterday. It was a busy day for corporate earnings with attention focused on continued takeover speculation and results in the utilities sector. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 0.2 per cent to 1,355.64 with the German Dax down 0.1 per cent to 5,858.87 and the French CAC 40 down 0.1 per cent to 5,038.95.

After an initial fall, Continental recovered to gain 2.5 per cent to €87.5 after the German automotive supplier announced a 30 per cent increase in net profits to €929.6 million last year from €716.2m million in 2004. The initial fall was prompted by concerns over the outlook and the negative impact of higher raw materials prices.

Reuters shares lost 10.1 per cent to 405 and a half points even though revenues and profit came roughly in line with expectations. The fall, coupled with weakness in heavyweight oil stocks, pulled the FTSE 100 22.8 points lower to 5,849.3. The mid-cap FTSE 250 fell 9.5 points to 9,462.7.

Overnight in New York, Wall Street stocks gained, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 68.10 points to 11.1137.20.

The Nikkei 225 finished the day two per cent higher at 16,096.10. The Topix rose 1.9 per cent to 1,640.47. Strong performances among both domestic and export-focused stocks pushed up the Tokyo market day. Banking rose 2.3 per cent, with real estate up 3.6 per cent. Mitsubishi UFJ, the world's biggest bank by assets, jumped 2.5 per cent to Y1,630,000. Mitsui Fudosan rose 4.8 per cent to Y2,400.