Financial News

Local equities halted a nine-day losing streak yesterday as investors deemed current prices to offer value, and consequently supported present levels with fresh purchases. As a result the MSE Index closed 0.3 per cent higher at 5,018 points.

Initial selling activity in Bank of Valletta pushed the price slightly lower, touching a nine-month low of Lm3.49,8. However, as the session progressed, new buy orders hit the bid side of the market and towards the end, investors did not hesitate chasing the price up by five cent or 1.4 per cent to Lm3.55.

HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most actively traded equity with 77,252 shares being exchanged across 59 transactions. The equity briefly declined to the Lm2 level where a handful of deals were struck, however, further buying activity reversed the negative trend and the equity managed to close unchanged at Lm2.01.

Activity in Maltacom picked up slightly with 26,690 shares, carrying a market consideration of approximately Lm48,000, being exchanged across eight transactions. A fairly largish sell order squeezed the price down to the Lm1.80 level, however outstanding offers did not follow lower and the final purchase order of the day trimmed the session's decline to 0c9 or 0.5 per cent at Lm1.84.

Turnover in Simonds Farsons Cisk was particularly high with 26,487 shares being struck across seven deals.

All shares changed hands at the 74c level without affecting its previous closing level. Similarly, trades in International Hotel Investments and Malta International Airport did not alter their previous prices of €0.96 and Lm1.35 respectively.

Wall Street seen higher ahead of Fed minutes

Yesterday, Europe's bourses were buoyed by strong technology and pharmaceutical sectors as the London market caught up after a national holiday. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.6 per cent with the Frankfurt Xetra Dax up 0.3 per cent and the CAC-40 in Paris 0.6 per cent better.

London equities were sharply higher as trading restarted following the extended bank holiday weekend. By mid-day, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6 per cent while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was 0.2 per cent higher. The upward momentum was in reaction to a strong showing in the US on Monday.

US stocks were poised to open higher following through on Monday's rally. An hour before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were 2.33 points over fair value, while Nasdaq Composite futures were 0.79 points above fair value. Investors were looking for clues on the outlook for US monetary policy from the minutes of the Federal Reserve's August 8 interest rate setting meeting, due for release in the afternoon.

Japanese shares rebounded buoyed by a weaker currency. The Nikkei 225, which fell to its lowest level in two weeks on Monday, rose 0.8 per cent closing up for its first session in five days. The broader Topix gained one per cent.

BOV and VFM are licensed by the MFSA to conduct investment services business.

Valletta Fund Management (tel. 8007 2344) and Bank of Valletta plc (Tel 2131 2020).