Financial News
Volumes decline as prices rise
Activity in equities dwindled drastically yesterday's at the Malta Stock Exchange but prices reversed their previous session's trend, thereby helping the MSE index recover 1.15 per cent to close the day at 5,702 points.
The day's main focus remained Maltacom, as the government transferred its 60 per cent stake in the company to a subsidiary of Tecom Investments of Dubai for the consideration of Lm1.55 per share. The market greeted the news positively and the equity overturned most of Tuesday's decline, therefore gaining 9c or 4.8 per cent to close the session at Lm1.94.
With merely 11,999 shares traded, Maltacom was the day's most liquid equity and, at the end of the session, demand stood for 2,075 shares at Lm1.92 while 4,265 shares remained unsatisfied on the offer side at Lm1.94. Activity in HSBC Bank Malta shrunk suddenly to just over 7,800 shares. These were exchanged across 13 transactions, with the price closing higher by 4c or 1.7 per cent at Lm2.34.
Volume trading in Bank of Valletta was even lower with barely 855 shares being exchanged throughout the whole session. The equity opened weaker but managed to recoup and close the day unchanged at Lm4.30, leaving a further 2,403 shares outstanding at this level on the offer side, against demand for 1,000 shares at Lm4.26.
Malta International Airport reversed all of its previous session's gain to trade back at the Lm1.45 level. Activity consisted of 1,750 shares which were exchanged across two transactions forcing a decline of 2.3 per cent.
Europe flat as weak banks offset strong earnings
European equity markets flattened out by midday yesterday, as strong gains in Asia, upbeat earnings and rallying mining stocks were partially offset by the effects of a slide for the US dollar and a tick up in oil prices.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was unchanged at 1,347.66 while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax was fractionally higher at 5,854.56. The CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.2 per cent to 5,093.38, but London's FTSE 100 fell 0.3 per cent to 5,831.2 as a number of stocks traded without rights to the latest dividend payment. A rebound in the mining sector could not prevent the FTSE 100 from falling. While the wider market slipped back, the day's biggest riser was Chilean copper miner Antofagasta.
Wall Street finished a little lower as investors struggled to interpret weaker-than-expected producer price inflation and housing starts data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1 per cent lower at 11,419.89, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 per cent to 2,229.13.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index broke its six-day losing streak, boosted by bargain-hunting and a rebound in many commodities stocks. The Nikkei ended 0.9 per cent higher at 16,307.67. The Topix rose 0.7 per cent to 1,657.07.
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