Financial News
Banks drive market lower
Ongoing weakness in the banking sector continued to weigh on the performance of the Malta Stock Exchange index which closed down by 0.5 per cent yesterday to a four-and-a-half-month low of 5,483.662 points. Activity remained particularly low as a mere 46,542 shares changed hands during the day over 67 deals.
More than half of the day's volume was registered in the shares of HSBC Bank Malta which closed 1c lower, at Lm2.25. The equity managed to trim losses by the end of the session, bouncing back from the day's intra-day low of Lm2.24 which represents its lowest level in the last one-and-a-half months.
Bank of Valletta shares shed over one per cent as the share price fell back to Lm4, on very low volumes. This is proving to be a strong support level for the equity which has registered a significant decline over the past two months.
The rest of the equity market was practically flat with the exception of Simonds Farsons Cisk shares which managed to close the session in positive territory, up by 1c, to Lm0.76.
On the fixed income market, activity was spread between six corporate issues and five government stock. Prices in general remained stable at previous levels with the exception of the 6.15 per cent Bank of Valletta 2010 which gained 1c and the 7.8 per cent MGS 2012A which fell by the same monetary amount.
London higher as ITV gains on bid talk
Europe's bourses recouped most of last week's losses yesterday as Nokia, the Finnish mobile giant, and Germany's Siemens agreed to combine their phone equipment units. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 1.1 per cent with the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt up 1.6 per cent and the CAC-40 in Paris reached the 4,750.17 point. The Eurofirst 300 lost 1.2 per cent last week.
London equities advanced as takeover speculation boosted ITV and brokers reacted positively to figures from cruise operator Carnival. The FTSE 100 traded 1.1 per cent higher, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.3 per cent.
Japanese companies with a heavy reliance on exports to China fell after China's central bank curbed lending, fuelling fears of a slowdown in its economy. The Topix fell 0.5 per cent hit by weakness in the banking sector, which has a high weighting in the index. But the Nikkei 225 was down only 0.1 per cent.
For the week, on Wall Street, the S&P 500 was down down 0.1 per cent. The Nasdaq shed 0.2 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average made a gain of 1.1 per cent.
BOV (tel. 2131 2020) and VFM (tel. 8007 2344) are licensed by the MFSA to conduct investment services business.