Financial News

Trading on the Malta Stock Exchange was once again characterised by very low volumes and a low number of trades executed, as the index closed at 4826.540 points. The session could have closed further in the red was it not for some late buying activity in Maltacom shares.

Intra-day activity in Maltacom saw the telecom company shares falling to their lowest value year-to-date, as the equity traded at Lm1.37. Late buying activity helped to recoup almost all of the day's losses as the share closed at Lm1.396, a mere one-tenth of a cent lower from its previous closing price.

Single trades executed in Grand Harbour Marina and Lombard Bank pushed both equity prices lower. Lombard shares shed a whole percentage point to close 5c lower at Lm4.95, while the newly listed Grand Harbour Marina retraced back to its initial public offering price of 70c.

Elsewhere in the regular market, trades in the two largest caps on the index, HSBC Bank Malta and Bank of Valletta had no impact on their closing prices.

Most of the deals exchanged in Bank of Valletta shares were executed late in the session, as the equity closed unchanged at Lm3.58. Shares in HSBC initially shed one-tenth of a cent to subsequently regain the Lm1.90 level later in the session. At the end of the session best demand stood for 1,000 shares at Lm1.893 while best supply was for 1,412 shares at Lm1.90.

London eases after strong gains

European stocks rebounded yesterday after a report showed industrial production in the US rose last month by the most since November 2005.

Unilever bucked a lower London market as the Anglo-Dutch consumer industries group became the latest FTSE stock to be linked with a private equity takeover. In the wider market, the FTSE 100 was 30.3 points lower at 6,101.9, a day after the index registered its biggest one-day gain since last May. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 26.1 points at 11,193.1

Japanese stocks fell, hit by dollar weakness against the yen and a sharp fall in the banking sector. The Nikkei 225 ended the day down 0.7 per cent at 16,744.15.

The Topix, which has a higher weighting in banking stocks, suffered more, slipping one per cent to 1,677.06.

Wall Street was set for a slightly lower start as traders braced themselves for the expiration of quarterly derivatives contracts and concerns about inflation were soothed by a relatively gentle rise in consumer prices. Less than an hour before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were down 1.4 points at 1,402 while Nasdaq futures were down 5.8 points at 1,59.

The financial news was compiled by 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.