Financial news
Buying activity returns to Market
Following five consecutive sessions of declines, investors turned the page and commenced the week with fresh buying activity. As a result, the equity market rallied, helping the MSE index recover 2.1 per cent to close at 6,155 points.
Bank of Valletta attracted the highest value of transactions as 71,589 shares were exchanged across 100 trades. The equity gained steadily throughout the session to close the day at the Lm4.75 level. Investors were willing to pay an 11c or 2.4 per cent premium on anticipation of the group's half-yearly results which are due out later on this week.
HSBC Bank Malta remained the day's most actively traded equity as 117,980 shares changed hands over 169 transactions. Here too, demand for shares was evidenced by the fact that bid prices were increased to snap up shares on the offer side. By the end of the session, the equity gained 10c or 3.9 per cent to close back up at the Lm2.67 level.
FIMBank bucked the trend and declined by 1.4 per cent as a single purchase order for merely 100 shares was executed against an offer at the Lm$2.089 level, whilst a single transaction in Lombard Bank was struck without affecting its previous closing price of Lm11.
Elsewhere, Maltacom declined under sustained selling pressure, although the price recovered slightly towards the end. The day's turnover amounted to 24,388 shares which were exchanged across 20 transactions squeezing the price lower by 2c to close at Lm1.80.
BG Group hits new high in falling London market
London equities slipped back yesteray after a recent strong run, although miners and oil stocks continued to push upward with BG Group reaching a record high. The FTSE 100, which hit at a five-year high on Friday, was off 16.3 points or 0.3 per cent at 6,115.9, weighed down by weakness in the banking sector The FTSE 250 slipped 2.5 points to 9,948.3.
US stocks were set to open lower yesterday at the start of another week of earnings with American Express, Sun Microsystems and Caterpillar all reporting earnings. An hour before the opening, Dow futures were 14 points lower, and S&P 500 futures were trading down 0.86 points below fair value, indicating a slight opening loss. Nasdaq futures were also down 0.9 points.
Europe's bourses fell yesterday as the euro hit a seven-month high against the dollar making eurozone exporters less competitive. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 0.4 per cent to 1,391.34 with the Frankfurt Xetra Dax 0.4 per cent down at 6,072.24 and the CAC-40 in Paris 0.6 lower at 5,222.81.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average fell yesterday at its fastest pace since the Livedoor shock in January, hit by a drop in the dollar against the yen and by fears over higher oil prices. The Nikkei 225 plunged 2.8 per cent to 16,914.40. The Topix fell 2.6 per cent to 1,710.76.