Financial news

Local equities sold off mildly during the first trading session of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange, forcing the index to decline 0.25 per cent and close the day at 5,076.181 points.

Heavyweight banking sector equities provided most of the drag on the market, with Bank of Valletta losing a penny, as 7,260 shares were exchanged across 14 transactions. Trading was struck between a low of Lm3.668 and a high of Lm3.675, with the equity closing yesterday's session at Lm3.67.

HSBC Bank Malta was uncharacteristically shunned by local investors as a mere 4,856 shares expressed the only interest of the day. The activity was mainly driven by sellers who forced the price lower by 1c2 or 0.3 per cent to the Lm2.10.

On the contrary, activity in FIMBank swelled to 13,702 shares which were swapped across four transactions without affecting the previous closing price of $1.73.

The day's most actively traded equity was International Hotel Investments where the buying spree continued as investors snapped up more shares. An aggregate total of 48,278 shares were purchased across six transactions pushing the price to a fresh record high of €1.13.

Buying activity was also witnessed in Medserv which gained 0.7 per cent as 4,000 shares were purchased up to the Lm1.38 level.

GlobalCapital was the day's biggest loser as merely 450 shares were sold at the Lm2.125 level, which represents a 7c4 or 3.4 per cent discount to its previous closing level. Middlesea Insurance shed 1c or 0.5 per cent to Lm2.04, while Malta International Airport declined 0c5 or 0.4 per cent as 13,710 shares changed hands across eight transactions bringing the price down to Lm1.38.

Deutsche Telekom hit by profit warning

European equity markets moved higher yesterday, but losses for telecommunications stocks weighed following Deutsche Telekom's second profit warning in six months. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.2 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax gained 0.3 per cent and the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.5 per cent.

Prudential was among the leading risers in London as the life assurer agreed the sale of Egg, its internet bank. Citigroup, the world's largest financial services group, has agreed to buy loss-making Egg for £575 million in cash. In late morning trade, the FTSE 100 was broadly steady at 6,229.7 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 55 points to 11,063.7.

Japanese stocks rose moderately, boosted by yen weakness and some bullish corporate news. The Nikkei 225 average rose 0.3 per cent. The broader Topix index also gained 0.3 per cent.

US stock-index futures fell as Schering-Plough Corp., the maker of Clarinex and Nasonex allergy drugs, and other companies reported earnings. Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, advanced. Its new Windows Vista operating system goes on sale tomorrow. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures and Nasdaq-100 Index futures were all negative.

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)