Local equities trade flat

The local equity market ended practically flat during a dull trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange yesterday, as price fluctuations were limited to a mere two equities which were, however, only marginally moved.

Trading in Bank of Valletta shares started late in the session as investors remained on the sidelines waiting for market direction. In the end, four transactions for an aggregate volume of 1,000 shares were undertaken in the equity at the previous day's closing price of Lm3.65.

Shares of the other major bank, HSBC Bank Malta, were also flat traded, albeit on much higher volumes.

The equity remained supported above the Lm2 level as fresh demand continues to enter the market. The day's activity consisted in 20,725 shares which were executed across 22 deals.

Shares of International Hotel Investments continued to hover around the €1 level where they closed for the third consecutive session. Shares of Middlesea Insurance, Maltacom and Lombard also finished unchanged on particularly subdued trading volumes.

The only equities which experienced some fluctuations were Malta International Airport and the recently-listed Medserv with both equities closing in negative territory, down by 0c5, and 0c1, respectively. Meanwhile, the latter issued an announcement before the start of the session to rebut allegations made in the weekend press which the company described as completely unfounded, speculative and malicious.

The Malta Stock Exchange index closed at 4,955.834 points, down 0.014 per cent from the previous session.

Tokyo stocks rally on strong GDP

European equities turned lower yesterday as losses for banking and pharmaceuticals stocks offset gains for telecoms following strong results from Telefonica and Vodafone. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.2 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax fell 0.1 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris was off 0.2 per cent.

In London, the wider market surrendered gains and was flat-to-lower in late morning trade. The blue-chip index was down 3.2 points to 6,191.0. The FTSE 250 fell 14.5 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 10,698.1.

Tokyo shares rallied, after data showed that the Japanese economy grew more strongly than expected in the third quarter. The data caused stocks to rally across the board. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed up 1.7 per cent, while the broader Topix index was up 1.8 per cent. GDP data showed that strong exports more than offset weak domestic consumption to produce annualised growth of two per cent.

Overnight Wall Street stocks, led by technology bellwethers, settled modestly firmer in New York, with investors buoyed by lower oil prices and hopeful that economic reports this week will show that the economy remains robust while inflation is contained.

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)