HSBC shares close higher

Equities traded lower during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange although HSBC Bank Malta single-handedly held the index in positive territory.

HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most heavily traded equity with a grand total of Lm146,807 worth of shares being exchanged across 69 transactions. The price increased steadily throughout the entire session to close the day, 14c higher at Lm11.54.

Elsewhere, Bank of Valletta dropped a penny towards the very end of the session which was characterised by selling activity at and around the Lm4.90 level. In all, 17,818 shares were exchanged across 36 trades with the price closing at the Lm4.89.

Maltacom was the day's most liquid equity, with 28,720 shares being exchanged. Initially the price held up well at the Lm2.20 level, but negativity soon swept in and the price tumbled 5c or 2.3 per cent to close at a four-week low of Lm2.15.

A single sale order for 185 shares saw the price of Middlesea Insurance slump by 3c to close at the Lm5.30 level, while Malta International Airport gave back all of Friday's gains, as 5,000 shares were exchanged down to Lm1.54.

Plaza Centres dropped almost three per cent to Lm0.66, while Simonds Farsons Cisk lost the same monetary value of 2c on 2,218 shares to close the session at Lm0.83c.

Selling activity in Global Financial Services Group and International Hotel Investments brought slight declines to their prices which ended at Lm1.99,5 and €0.85 respectively.

The day's biggest loser was Datatrak Holdings which tumbled six per cent to close at Lm0.28.

Japanese investment into China hits record high

Japanese investment into China in 2005 hit a record high of $6.5 billion, quelling fears that the severe deterioration in political relations during the year would corrode future economic ties between Asia's two largest economies.

European stocks hit new long-term peaks yesterday, helped by an Asian rally and with early focus on French telecoms equipment maker Alcatel after it agreed to buy US rival Lucent Technologies.

By mid-morning, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.6 per cent to 1,378.91, with the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt pushing through the 6,000 level for the first time since July 2001 to 6,003.53, up 0.6 per cent. In Paris, the CAC 40 was up 0.6 per cent to 5,250.41.

London's leading stock index broke through 6,000 once again yesterday as rising copper prices lifted the mining sector. The FTSE 100 was up 41.1 points or 0.6 per cent at 6,005.7 in late morning trading while the mid-cap FTSE 250 firmed 14.9 points 0.2 per cent to 9865.2.

Leading gainers were Xstrata up 2.2 per cent to £19.04, and Rio Tinto, two per cent higher at £29.82. BHP Billiton jumped 4.4 per cent to £10.98 as the Anglo-Australian group confirmed it had completed the first stage of its $2 billion share buy-back.