Financial News

Local equities completed a spectacular turnaround during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange, pulling higher after negative sentiment swept through the initial trades. Nevertheless HSBC remained weak putting a damper on the index which only gained 0.08 per cent to close at 5,452 points.

HSBC Bank Malta was in fact the only equity to terminate the session in negative territory as sellers exited their holding following the group's interim results. The day's turnover amounted to 65,451 shares which were exchanged across 81 trades, with the equity closing 3c or 1.4 per cent lower at Lm2.15.

Sympathy selling activity split over to Bank of Valletta, where investors offloaded shares down to the Lm3.95 level. However, a sizable purchase order at the end of the session completely reversed its losses, to close in positive territory by 7c5 or 1.9 per cent, at Lm4.05.

Trading in Lombard Bank was characterised by continued buying activity which saw 9,498 shares being cleared off the offer side across 10 trades. As a result, the equity climbed 9c9 or 1.7 per cent to terminate just a whisker away from its all-time high, at Lm5.99,9.

The day's top gainer was GlobalCapital where persistent buying interest saw the equity break new highs. The day's activity consisted in 6,035 shares which were exchanged across 11 transactions pushing the price north by 5c or 2.2 per cent to close at Lm2.29.

Activity in Middlesea Insurance picked up nicely with 14,500 shares being swapped across six transactions, with the price gaining a penny to close at Lm2.58.

London eases as investors take profits

European equities were lower yesterday as corporate earnings again dominated the agenda, with mixed results from the likes of Ferrovial and Statoil. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.3 per cent, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax shed 0.3 per cent. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.2 per cent.

Investors took profits in London following last week's strong showing from the FTSE 100. In morning trade, the benchmark was down 0.5 per cent, having closed at a two-month high on Friday. The index gained a startling 4.5 per cent last week - its best showing since March 2003. While this helped stocks to recoup much of the losses sustained during a turbulent May, investors said it could be time to take gains.

The Japanese stock market rose, led by export-oriented companies. Overnight gains on Wall Street and eased concerns about more US interest rate rises also boosted shares of blue-chip companies. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.7 per cent, its highest close in three weeks. The broader Topix gained 0.8 per cent.

Wall Street jumped sharply on Friday as investors took heart from another week of mostly strong earnings and hopes that the US Federal Reserve might be closer to calling a halt to the current cycle of interest rate rises. The big stock market indices had their best week in six months.

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