Financial News

In contrast to foreign markets, local equities maintained their sparkle during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange, as investors continued to cautiously purchase equities.

For the second day running, the day's top gainer was Maltacom which was also the day's most liquid equity. All the day's trades were executed within four minutes when a sudden burst of buying activity saw 23,877 shares being purchased across 18 transactions, effectively mopping up all offers up to the Lm2.03 level. Although fresh supply hit the market at slightly lower prices, no further trades were executed, thereby locking a 8c1 or 4.2 per cent gain in price.

HSBC Bank Malta recouped its previous session's entire decline to close the day at Lm2.20. Turnover amounted to 9,667 shares which were struck across 23 deals within a very tight trade range. Bank of Valletta declined slightly on low volume, as trading interest almost evaporated completely.

Only 1,179 shares were exchanged during the session, with all three transactions executed at the Lm3.98 level, which represents a 2c discount over Tuesday's closing price.

Malta International Airport's positive run continued as the equity registered its third consecutive session of gains. Across two transactions, 5,000 shares were purchased pulling the price higher by 1c or 0.7 per cent. Since the beginning of the week, the equity has already rallied 4.3 per cent, lifting itself up from Lm1.40 to Lm1.46.

Buying interest in International Hotel Investments saw 14,436 shares being acquired across two trades at the €0.901 level, while on the contrary Middlesea Insurance declined 1.5 per cent to Lm2.55 on selling activity of merely 553 shares.

Asian markets shrug off missile tests

European equity markets were lower yesterday as investors took profits after several days of gains. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.5 per cent, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax fell 0.8 per cent. The CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.6 per cent.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.6 per cent as five constituent stocks traded without further rights to their latest dividend payments. The FTSE 250 lost 0.2 per cent with six companies going ex-dividend.

Asian financial markets quickly recovered most of their composure after some investors had initially reacted severely to the news that North Korea had launched several missiles on yesterday morning. Japan's Nikkei 225 share index closed down only 0.7 per cent, after initially falling by just less than one per cent.

Wall Street looked set to start the day lower yesterday after a missile test by North Korea caused jitters across markets following the July 4 holiday.

Marvell Technology sank on stock-options concerns but General Motors continued to gain on news of a possible partnership deal.

An hour before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were 4.72 points below fair value, while Nasdaq Composite futures were 8.79 points beneath fair value.

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