Financial news

Decliners offset advancers by three to two during the final trading session of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange, but nonetheless, the Index still managed to close in positive territory, thanks to the heavier weighting of the progressing equities.

In fact Lombard Bank was the day's top gainer as the equity bounced 9c or 1.6 per cent higher to close the day at Lm5.64. An aggregate total of 3,000 shares were exchanged across five transactions, with the bulk of the deals being executed at the Lm5.60 level.

Investors purchased 6,407 shares of Bank of Valletta across 12 transactions thereby forcing the price to advance 5c or 1.3 per cent and close at the Lm4.05 level, leaving a further unsatisfied demand for 130 shares against supply of 2,000 shares, best offered at Lm4.09.

Malta International Airport commenced trading at the Lm1.44,5 level as investors flogged shares onto the best awaiting bid. Later in the session a single purchase order, executed across three transactions trimmed the day's losses to just 1c5 or one per cent, with the equity terminating the week at Lm1.46.

Trading in Middlesea Insurance was characterised by a number of low volume sale transactions, forcing the price to drift lower by a penny to Lm2.57. Similarly, Maltacom declined a penny as two buy orders executed across four transactions helped clear 5,249 shares off the offer side, leaving 1,000 shares best bid at Lm1.90 and at least 3,000 shares offered at Lm1.98,4.

Wall Street seen mixed on tech results

Yesterday, European stocks were lower as chipmakers fell after disappointing results from Germany's Infineon came on top of a lower sales forecast from sector leader Intel in the US. In London weakness in global financial markets pulled the FTSE 100 index lower. Financial stocks weighed on the index.

Tokyo stocks fell as technology stocks tracked their US counterparts downwards. Chipmakers tumbled after Intel, the bellwether of the technology market, plunged on disappointing second-quarter earnings. Analysts have warned recent poor performance of US technology companies will have ripple effects on their global counterparts. The Nikkei 225 closed down 0.8 per cent reversing strong rises in the previous day.

US markets were poised to open mixed, as investors reflected on a slew of earnings in the technology sector. Microsoft and Google both rose, but chipmaker AMD tumbled after reporting falling revenue. An hour before markets opened, S&P 500 futures were 0.30 points above fair value, while Nasdaq Composite futures were 6.63 points below fair value.

Dell rattled investors when it said that second quarter results would fall short of forecasts due to aggressive pricing in the fiercely competitive PC market. Shares slumped 12.4 per cent.

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