Buying activity in local equities reached a climax for the week during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange with prices reaching towards their previous peaks.
Global Financial Services Group was once again the day's top gainer as investors bought shares prior to the reporting of the company's full year results, later on this week. The day's turnover amounted to 12,000 shares which were exchanged across nine transactions, pushing the price higher by 10c1 or 5.5 per cent to Lm1.92.
HSBC Bank Malta was the most actively traded equity with 119 deals seeing a total of 33,646 shares transacted, with the price closing 2.4 per cent higher at Lm11.58.
Buying activity in Bank of Valletta remained strong with 69,442 shares changing hands across 104 trades. The price ended the session at the Lm5 level, which is a record closing high.
Two investors swapped 100 shares of Lombard Bank without affecting its previous closing price of Lm11.75, while activity in FIMBank amounted to 9,909 shares which helped the price move slightly north, to end at $2.015.
A single sale of 600 shares of Plaza Centres was executed at the Lm0.68 level as bids in the market were placed at a three cents or 4.6 per cent premium to its previous closing level.
Maltacom declined 0.4 per cent to Lm2.18 as 14,573 shares were exchanged across 19 transactions whil, elsewhere in the market International Hotel Investments declined to the €0.85 level as 8,619 shares were sold across four transactions.
Tokyo shares buoyed by continued optimism
The Japanese stock market rose sharply on Monday, boosted by increases in both domestic and export shares and particularly strong gains among securities companies. The Nikkei closed 1.7 per cent higher at 16,624.80 and the Topix rose 1.5 per cent to 1,688.22.
Real estate slightly outperformed the overall market, building on Friday's rise. Mitsui Fudosan, Japan's biggest property company, jumped 2.9 per cent to Y2,645. Mitsubishi Estate, its largest rival, was up two per cent to Y2,575.
European equities fell yesterday as profits were taken following the market's recent strong run, with heavyweight oil stocks the strongest negative pull after crude prices fell overnight. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.4 per cent to 1,366.74, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax shed 0.6 per cent to 5,870.08. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.4 per cent to 5,118.21 and London's FTSE 100 lost 0.3 per cent to 5,974.1.
Swiss insurer Baloise reported full-year net profit rose by a better-than-expected 81 per cent thanks to fewer claims in Europe. The company proposed a dividend of SFr2.20 a share and announced plans to buy back 10 per cent of shares over the next three years. The shares added 5.4 per cent to SFr92.50.
Wall Street put in a turgid performance as investors awaited Mr Bernanke's speech to the Economic Club of New York after the market close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1 per cent to 11,274.53, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3 per cent to 2,314.11.