The MSE index declined for its seventh time during the past eight sessions yesterday as negative sentiment saw the three largest local companies close the day lower. The past few sessions have been characterised by a lack of interest which is reflected in low turnover and lack of liquidity.

Maltacom was the day's biggest loser, with the equity shedding 1.5 per cent on particularly weak volume. In fact, while the day's turnover amounted to less than Lm2,900, in excess of Lm3 million worth of market capitalisation was wiped off shareholder's valuations. At the end of the session, 300 shares were best bid at Lm1.90 while 5,583 shares remained outstanding on the offer side at the closing level of Lm1.95. Bank of Valletta declined for its fourth consecutive session. The day's activity consisted in 14,370 shares which were exchanged across 19 transactions. Sellers were firmly in the driving seat, pushing the price down by 5c or 1.2 per cent to Lm4 which, is proving to be a strong resistance level.

Activity in HSBC Bank Malta dwindled considerably with just 5,269 shares being exchanged across 12 transactions. The equity traded within a 1c trade range, closing at the upper end thereof at Lm2.29, which never-the-less represents a decline of 0.4 per cent from Wednesday's closing level.

The day's most actively traded equity was Middlesea Insurance where 24,106 shares were exchanged across seven transactions. All deals were struck without affecting its previous closing level of Lm5.29,9.

FTSE rebounds strongly from six-month low

London stocks rebounded from a six-month low yesterday amid a fresh batch of bid speculation, including talk of an Emirates move for British Airways. With the highly-volatile mining sector leading the bounce, the FTSE 100 index jumped 1.6 per cent, ending three straight-days of losses. The mid-cap FTSE 250 performed ever better, surging three per cent.

European equity markets extended their early gains, enjoying a recovery following an overnight rebound on Wall Street and gains in Asia. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 1.5 per cent, with the German Xetra Dax added 1.5 per cent and the French CAC 40 gained 1.5 per cent.

Japanese stocks continued to gain ground yesterday, amid fresh buying in technology and banking shares. The Nikkei 225 closed up 1.1 per cent at 14,470.76. The Topix rose 1.4 per cent to 1,485.98.

Wall Street looked set to open higher following through on Wednesday's modest recovery, when investors shrugged off higher inflation data. Bear Stearns bucked the trend of falling share prices for investment banks, when it gained on its earnings news, while homebuilders slumped on a brokerage downgrade. An hour before the opening, S&P 500 futures were 7.2 points above fair value, while Nasdaq Composite futures were 6.65 points above fair value.

BOV and VFM are licensed by the MFSA to conduct investment services business.

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