Financial News

The local equity market remained positively buoyant during the final session of the week as a buying frenzy gripped investors, even though there was no major market moving news.

HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most liquid and actively traded equity, as strong demand helped the price rally to a fresh record high of Lm3. During the session, a grand total of 201,657 shares were exchanged across 359 transactions as the equity was perceived to be more affordable given the recent 3-for-1 bonus issue. The price finally settled at Lm2.98 which represents a 6.4 per cent gain over Wednesday's closing level.

Buying activity also surrounded Bank of Valletta, where 25,541 shares were purchased across 50 transactions. The equity rallied all the way up to Lm4.92c before supply hit the market, trimming the day's gains slightly to close at Lm4.89.

A single buy order for 1,015 shares of FIMBank, helped the price jump 5.7 per cent to a historical high of $2.135. Elsewhere, Lombard Bank traded firmly attached to the Lm11 level.

Maltacom lost further ground, declining by 3.1 per cent as 27,374 shares were sold across 33 trades. Similarly to the previous session, initial buy orders gave way to more determined sellers who forced the price 6c lower to close at Lm1.86.

Low volume purchase activity helped the share price of Middlesea Insurance gain 0.6 per cent to close at Lm5.18c, while Malta International Airport notched higher by a penny to terminate the week at Lm1.45c9.

Tokyo shares recover to close higher

Tokyo shares recovered from earlier losses to close higher on Thursday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 0.2 per cent to 17199.15 while the Topix average, hurt in the morning by a heavier financial services weighting, closed 0.1 per cent higher at 1743.77.

The main boost to the market in afternoon trading came from a UBS securities decision to upgrade its year-end target for the Topix average by 11 per cent. In a report, the trading house said strong corporate earnings and consumer spending would lift the Topix beyond the 2,000 mark. Positive news from Sony and Tokyo Electron also led share gains.

European stocks fell on Thursday as investors, keen to leave no positions over-exposed during the Easter break, sold equities as the 10-year US Treasury yield hit five per cent for the first time since June 2002. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was flat at 1,364.29, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax fell 0.2 per cent to 5,887.06. The CAC 40 in Paris was flat at 5,085.

The FTSE 100 surrendered early gains to trade below the 6,000 point level. Undermined by further profit taking in the mining sector and weakness in a number of heavyweight banking stocks, the FTSE 100 was down 1.4 points at 5,999.6.

PartyGaming was the morning's standout feature. Its shares gained 3.3 per cent to 149p to bag top spot on the FTSE 100 leaderboard as traders built positions ahead of Tuesday's trading update. Numis Securities reckons the statement will impress and has upgraded its target price to a bullish 210p.