Financial news

The MSE index closed lower by 0.588 per cent during the opening session of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange sustained by selling activity in Bank of Valletta shares and Maltacom shares.

Once again HSBC shares attracted the highest value of business for the day with 29,750 shares carrying a market consideration of Lm59,797 were exchanged 32 transactions. However, this selling activity did not have any effect on the price of the shares which closed the session at Lm2.01.

Similar selling activity split over to Bank of Valletta shares where investors offloaded shares down to Lm3.65 level following initial trades which were matched at Lm3.68 level. The day's activity consisted in 8,567 shares which changed hands across 13 trades. At the end of the session, 1,500 shares were best bid at Lm3.60,1 against supply of just 30 shares at today's closing price of Lm3.65.

Maltacom shares continued to lose further ground as the price moved down 5c or 3.21 per cent where 6,100 shares were exchanged across seven transactions to close the day at Lm1.51 level, its lowest level for the last 12 months.

Furthermore, the equity is trading below the Lm1.55,4 level at which the government sold its 60 per cent stake to Emirates International Telecommunications (Malta) Ltd last May.

Malta International Airport shares declined 1c or 0.74 per cent as two investors exchanged 275 shares.

Elsewhere in the market trading activity in Lombard Bank Malta, Plaza Centres shares and International Hotel Investments shares did not effect their previous closing prices of Lm4.80, Lm0.68 and €1 respectively.

The MSE index closed the session at 4,956.544 points.

M&A Activity drives London equities higher

European equities ticked higher yesterday as earnings news helped offset falls for mining stocks, which weakened in response to lower commodity prices. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.2 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax gained 0.5 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.7 per cent. Top of the earnings pile yesterday was Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso.

London stocks moved higher as fresh M&A activity countered losses in the mining sector. In late morning, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1 per cent, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 pushed on to a new all-time high, up 0.4 per cent, to 10,698.1.Resolution, the closed life assurance fund consolidator, was a leading gainer, up 3.9 per cent to 659 and a half pence, as it confirmed talks with "various parties concerning a wide range of possible transactions".

Tokyo shares fell to their six-week low, as investors sold off shares dependent on domestic demand on concern that today's gross domestic product data would show that Japan's economic recovery is losing momentum. The Nikkei 225 average closed 0.6 per cent lower, after dipping below the 16,000-level for the first time in six weeks earlier in the day. The broader Topix index was down 0.8 per cent.

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