Financial News

Equities opened weaker yesterday at the Malta Stock Exchange and kept declining throughout the session as a fresh bout of negativity beset long investors who have been on the losing end for the past eight months.

Bank of Valletta lost 10c or 2.8 per cent of its value to close the week at the Lm3.50 level. The day's activity consisted in 21,290 shares which were exchanged across 31 transactions, with initial trades going through at Lm3.60. As the selling pressure intensified, investors flogged shares down to the Lm3.50 where the price was then supported by bargain hunters.

HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most actively traded equity with a few shares more than 45,000 being exchanged across 36 transactions. The aggregate market consideration of the day's deals amounted to Lm90,470. The equity traded lower but in a very tight trade range, a penny above the Lm2 psychological support level. Medserv was the day's biggest loser as bids failed to catch up with the recent gain in price. A total of 3,400 shares were sold down to the Lm1.33 level, wiping off all demand on the board. The decline equates to a 6c9 or 4.9 per cent loss per share. Middlesea Insurance too closed the session on the loser's bench as supply hit the market forcing the equity to decline by 4c or 1.9 per cent as 1,094 shares were swapped across four deals.

Maltacom provided the silver lining to the day's session as an investor left it till late in the session to purchase a mere 333 shares at the Lm1.49,5 level. The 0c5 or 0.3 per cent gain coincided with news that Melita Cable unveiled its new telephone service "hello", in direct competition to Maltacom's core fixed-line business

Euro surge puts bourses in negative territory

Export-oriented stocks came under heavy fire in Europe yesterday as the euro rose to its highest level against the dollar for 19 months. Industrial sectors such as carmakers suffered the biggest falls, while financials were hit by concerns that equity market losses could hurt profits. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down one per cent, while the Xetra dax in Frankfurt was 1.3 per cent lower and the CAC 40 in Paris was off 0.9 per cent.

London shares opened slightly lower with little in the way of direction after the US was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and Tokyo shares fell overnight. The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 fell, or 0.1 per cent respectively.

Tokyo shares fell with the Nikkei average briefly hitting its lowest intra-day level in two months. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed down 1.1 per cent while the broader Topix index fell one per cent. The Japanese market was closed on Thursday for a national holiday. Investors sold off shares of exporters after the dollar hit two-month lows against the yen. A stronger yen affects Japanese companies' overseas earnings. Shares of Toyota fell 1.7 per cent, Honda closed down 1.2 per cent and shares of Kyocera fell 1.7 per cent.

Valletta Fund Management (tel. 8007 2344) and Bank of Valletta plc (Tel 2131 2020). BOV and VFM are licensed by the MFSA to conduct investment services business.