Financial News
Cautious trading in equities
Thin volume activity and marginal price fluctuations continued to characterise trading on the Malta Stock Exchange yesterday, with the Malta Stock Exchange Index closing barely moved at the 5,456 level, down by 0.03 per cent.
Bank of Valletta shares were back in action yesterday after the equity experienced no trading during Monday's session. Most of the day's activity was conducted at the day's closing level of Lm4 which has proved to be a strong resistance level for the equity in the past few weeks. Activity was for an aggregate volume of 7,670 shares spread over 14 deals.
No price fluctuations were registered in the shares of the other major bank, HSBC Bank Malta which remained stuck at the Lm2.20 level for the second day running. Investors remained cautious ahead of the publication of the bank's interim results scheduled towards the end of the month.
On their part, GlobalCapital shares reversed all the gains of the previous day, easing by 2c from their all time high of Lm2.17c, registered on Monday. A single trade took place in the equity for an aggregate 250 shares.
Meanwhile Maltacom shares closed in the red for the fourth consecutive session, this time easing by 0c5, to Lm1.98 on a single trade for 225 shares.
Middlesea Insurance was the only equity finishing in positive territory, with the share price advancing by 1c to Lm2.55.
Tech weakness drags Europe lower
Stock futures pointed to a lower start for the Nasdaq Composite yesterday, following through from Monday's falls, which were compounded by a profit warning from Lucent after the bell. An hour before the opening bell, the S&P 500 was 2.16 points above fair value, while the Nasdaq Composite was 1.16 points below fair value.
The London market drifted lower, unsettled by weakness in Vodafone. This helped pull the FTSE 100 index down 0.3 per cent in afternoon trade. Lower down the market, the FTSE 250 slipped 0.3 per cent.
European equity markets extended their early losses by midday, following overnight declines on Wall Street and in Asia. European tech stocks came under pressure after a profit warning from Lucent Technologies and a downgrade for the US tech sector by Merrill Lynch which contributed to a fall for the Nasdaq on Monday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 0.5 per cent while the German Xetra Dax declined 0.8 per cent and the French CAC 40 lost 0.7 per cent.
Tokyo shares closed lower, led by a decline in technology stocks following an overnight decline on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 average was off 0.5 per cent while the broader Topix index was down 0.5 per cent.
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