Financial news

Equity prices continued to linger at their lowest levels for the current year during yesterday's trading session. Volumes were particularly robust considering that historically, activity usually dwindles during the Christmas activity.

HSBC Bank Malta was the most liquid equity with 36,279 shares changing hands across 24 transactions. The equity wobbled within a tight range but still managed to close unchanged at Lm1.97.

Bank of Valletta was the most actively traded with 19,427 shares swapped across 26 transactions. The equity got off to a slow start, however halfway through the session buying activity picked up, helping the price reach the Lm3.60 level. Nevertheless, sellers remained persistent in their endeavour and by the end of the session, the price closed in negative territory by the slimmest of margins at Lm3.58,9.

Lombard Bank was the day's only gainer as 3,850 shares were purchased across four transactions pushing the equity higher by 10c or almost two per cent to reclaim the Lm5.20 level. At the end of the session, a large bid-offer spread developed, with demand for 128 shares coming in at Lm4.65 against supply of a further 2,500 shares at Lm5.20.

On the contrary, Maltacom shares weakened suddenly as a fresh bout of selling activity brought the price down by three per cent. The day's activity consisted in 25,046 shares which were exchanged across 16 transactions squeezing the price down to Lm1.45, its lowest level since late September 2005. In excess of Lm4.5 million worth of market capitalisation was destroyed during the session although the value of the share transacted amounted to barely Lm36,934.

FTSE close to six-year high

The FTSE 100 hovered close to a six-year high in London yesterday thanks to sharp gains for Smith & Nephew shares. In the wider market, the FTSE 100 hit 6,269.1 in early trade, just a few points shy of a six-year high. By midday, the index was down 2.8 points at 6,257.2 while the FTSE 250, which has hit a series of all-time highs of late, was off 9.3 points at 11,076.1. Elsewhere in the market, trading was quiet, with only a few working days left before the Christmas break.

Norsk Hydro's announcement that it is to merge its oil and gas business with that of fellow Norwegian group Statoil helped send European equity markets higher in spite of downside pressure from bank and technology stocks. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.1 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax added 0.2 per cent, the CAC 40 in Paris eased 0.1 per cent.

Blue chip exporters led the Nikkei 225 stock average to a fresh seven-month high. But as the benchmark Nikkei index climbed 0.3 per cent to 16,962.11, the 17,000 mark proved too great a psychological barrier and prompted some nervous profit-taking. The broader Topix rose 0.5 per cent to 1,665.32.

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