The MSE index rose 1.047 per cent during the opening session of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange mainly sustained by the recovery of HSBC, International Hotels Investments and Maltacom shares.
HSBC was the day' top gainer as the equity gained 1.96 per cent or 4c to close the session at the Lm2.08 level. The day's activity consisted in 21,154 shares which were exchanged across 23 transactions. At the end of the session the best outstanding bid was for 4,670 shares at Lm2.08 and the best offer was for 600 shares at Lm2.09.
International Hotels Investments was the equity with the highest volume of traded shares with a total of 81,378 shares changing hands across 26 transactions. This activity helped the share price to move €0.03 to close the session at €1.
Following the announcement of the Group's full year results, Bank of Valletta was the day's most actively traded equity with 20,848 shares exchanged across 39 transactions at prices between Lm4 and Lm4.02,1. Most shares were traded at the Lm4 level which was the last dealt price.
Elsewhere in the market, Maltacom and Middle Sea Insurance gained 2c over the previous session to close the day at Lm1.57 and Lm2.15 respectively. Trading in Plaza Centres shares did not alter the previous closing price of 68c while Lombard Bank share price moved 1c upwards to close at Lm4.81.
Global Capital was the only shares which ended in negative territory with the price losing 0.47 per cent to close the session at Lm2.31,9.
The MSE index closed the session at 5,153.147 points
Tokyo stocks hit by fears for US economy
European stocks fell yesterday as fears over slowing growth in the US continued to be felt following Friday's lower-than-expected gross domestic product data from the world's largest economy. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.7 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax fell 0.6 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.9 per cent. London's FTSE 100 lost 0.7 per cent.
Fears over the US economy, combined with sluggish domestic data, drove Japanese stocks lower with shares of export-oriented companies leading the fall. The Nikkei 225 slumped 1.9 per cent, with the broader Topix down 1.82 per cent.
US stocks fell on Friday after a week of gains as investors weighed a generally impressive third-quarter earnings season against fresh concerns about weaker economic growth. For the week, the S&P 500 index was up 0.6 per cent, despite slipping 0.4 per cent on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite index was showing a weekly gain of 0.4 per cent, even though it was down 1.2 per cent on Friday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 0.6 per cent at the close of trading on Friday, was up 0.7 per cent over the week. Friday's declines followed the release of weak third-quarter US gross domestic product data.
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