Financial News

Local equities followed a global share market sell-off yesterday, although declines were kept to a very modest 0.5 per cent with the MSE index closing at 5,633 points, its sixth negative close in the past seven sessions.

FIMBank suffered the biggest decline as a solitary deal for 500 shares was executed at the $1.90 level, which represents a discount of 1.5 per cent to Monday's price.

Selling activity in Bank of Valletta saw the price gradually decline by 3c or 0.7 per cent to close the session at Lm4.07. The day's activity consisted of 13,848 shares which were exchanged across 18 transactions with small volume trades accounting for most of the deals.

HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most actively traded equity and furthermore, the number of shares changing hands increased slightly when compared to previous sessions. A grand total of 32,852 shares, carrying a market consideration of Lm77,210, were struck across 41 deals. The price initially sunk to a low of Lm2.34, however buying activity towards the end of the session trimmed the losses and the equity closed the day at Lm2.35.

Maltacom shares declined but were supported at the Lm2 level. Activity consisted in 14,685 shares which were exchanged across nine transactions with the price declining 0.7 per cent in the process.

Elsewhere Malta International Airport lost 1.3 per cent of its value as 1,050 shares were sold across two transactions down to Lm1.47.

Wall Street slides ahead of key inflation data

London equities hit their lowest level this year yesterday following sharp losses in Asia and the US overnight as traders continued to fret over rising global interest rates. The FTSE 100 dropped 1.9 per cent while the mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 2.7 per cent.

The sell-off in global equity markets gathered pace as European bourses suffered sharp opening losses. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 1.7 per cent while the German Xetra Dax dropped 1.7 per cent and the French CAC 40 fell 1.9 per cent.

The Nikkei closed 4.1 per cent lower, bringing its total fall to about 20 per cent since this year's intraday high on April 7. The Topix dropped 3.5 per cent. Analysts blamed a fresh overnight drop in the US stock market, caused by investor worries that higher inflation could prompt a rise in interest rates.

On Monday US markets ended sharply lower, extending the sell-off of last week that drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lowest level in four months. At the close, the S&P 500 was down 1.3 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.1 per cent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9 per cent.

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