Financial news
Farsons day's top gainer
Local equities traded relatively flat in a lacklustre session on the Malta Stock Exchange during which buyers and sellers agreed prices very close to their previous levels.
Simonds Farsons Cisk was the day's top gainer as 4,279 shares were purchased across two transactions helping the price gain 1c or 1.25 per cent to close the week at 81c, its highest level since the end of April 2006. Simonds Farsons Cisk has reversed its negative trend and progressively moved higher since the publication of its interim results on October 4.
International Hotel Investments was the day's most liquid equity with 25,150 shares being exchanged across five transactions.
The equity commenced trading lower at the €0.991 level although late buy orders reversed the trend completely, helping the price register a slight gain back to €1.00. Bank of Valletta succumbed under slight profit taking and a general lack of buying interest, only two weeks after the reporting of its full year results.
Offers were placed on the market around the Lm3.68 level and sporadic demand scooped up 2,658 shares across 11 transactions. At the end of the session, 200 shares were best bid at Lm3.65,3, while supply of 486 shares remained at Lm3.68.
Elsewhere in the market, trades executed in HSBC Bank Malta, Lombard Bank, Maltacom and Middlesea Insurance did not affect their previous closing prices of Lm2.01, Lm4.80, Lm1.56 and Lm2.20, while in the fixed interest sector of the market, activity was spread across a single corporate bond and six government stocks.
Cairn Energy gains in flat London market
European equities fell yesterday with pharmaceutical stocks heading the declines on fears over tighter regulation of drug companies in US following the Democrat victory in the mid-term elections this week. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax and the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.1 per cent respectively.
US stocks fell overnight as a jump in oil prices and weaker-than-expected consumer data weighed on investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.4 per cent. Cairn Energy was among the blue-chip gainers as a leading bank said the IPO of the oil group's Indian operations could lead to a re-rating. Cairn India is due to float on the Bombay Stock Exchange later this month. In the wider market, continued weakness in the pharmaceuticals sector and in the financial stocks prevented any real gains. In late morning, the FTSE 100 was broadly flat at 6,231.3.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed at its lowest level since October 4, after surprisingly weak machinery orders data dragged stocks lower. The Nikkei 225 average and the Topix index were down 0.5 per cent respectively.
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)