Financial News
Sole gains for BOV
Yesterday's session at the Malta Stock Exchange was characterised by sporadic trading in equities, with significant price volatility towards the end.
The day's most actively traded equity was Bank of Valletta where 29,301 shares were exchanged across 51 transactions. The equity commenced trading lower and drifted to the Lm4.03 level where the lion's share of the day's activity was executed. Thereafter buyers crept into the market and in no time the equity recouped all its losses and pushed higher thereby reversing its previous six-day losing streak, and closed at Lm4.20.
HSBC Bank Malta trimmed all of this week's gains during its final session. The day's activity consisted in 16,840 shares which were sold across 32 transactions. As a result, the equity declined gradually throughout the whole session and in the end closed 8c5 or 3.4 per cent lower at Lm2.40.
Activity in Maltacom dwindled drastically with only 2,350 shares being exchanged across two transactions. Trades were driven by the offer side and as a consequence the equity declined 0c5 or 0.2 per cent to Lm1.94,5.
A single sale order of 1,500 Malta International Airport shares was executed in rapid succession across two transactions, thereby squeezing the price 2c5 or 1.7 per cent to Lm1.42,5.
The day's biggest loser was Plaza Centres which tumbled 6.9 per cent in the dying minutes of the session as two investors swapped 1,400 shares at the 60c5 level which represents a 4c5 discount to its previous closing level.
Tokyo higher as US inflation fears ease
Europe's bourses climbed yesterday, benefiting from a strong close on Wall Street, while steelmaker Arcelor announced a merger deal with Russia's Severstal. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.9 per cent with the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt up 0.6 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris 0.8 per cent higher.
Corus Group led gainers in morning trade in London as the steel sector came into focus following news of a planned merger between the world's number two steel maker Arcelor and Severstal of Russia.
Japanese stocks rose sharply following recent weeks of volatility. The market gained because of easing fears about inflation in the US but some of the chunkiest rises were from domestically-focused sectors. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.8 per cent and the Topix also rose 1.8 per cent. Toyota, was up 1.5 per cent to Y6,100. Hitachi, the electronics giant, rose 2.2 per cent to Y776.
Wall Street was set to open higher yesterday. General Motors kept on climbing, while investors were eyeing brokerages and investment banks, following analyst upgrades. Just under an hour before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were up 4.70 points above fair value while Nasdaq Composite futures were up four points above fair value.