Financial news
Significant gains for BOV
Local equities registered gains across the board during the final session of the week, thereby helping the MSE Index register a 1.18 per cent rise to close the week at 4,872 points.
A sudden bout of buying activity in Bank of Valletta, cleared all supply at psychological level of Lm3.60 and then pushed the share to its highest closing for a month. As a result the price ended the session 9c5 or 2.6 per cent higher at Lm3.68c5. The equity had once again the upper hand on both the number of deals and volumes of shares traded, as 15 deals were executed carrying an aggregate amount of 16,625 shares.
Trades in HSBC also played their part in today's positive performance, as the largest capitalised company on the exchange gained 2c or a full percentage point to close the session at Lm1.91. At the end of the session, best demand stood for 353 shares at the Lm1.90 level, against a supply of 2,200 shares at Lm1.91c9.
A sole investor purchased 1,000 shares of GlobalCapital at Lm2.01, which represents a 1c premium to its previous closing price, ahead of the company's full year results, which were due to be published after the market closed.
Renewed interest was also witnessed in Maltacom which benefited from the overall market lift. The telecommunication company rose by seven tenths of a cent to end the session at Lm1.39c7, on total buying volume of 7,740 shares.
Elsewhere in the market, two investors swapped 1,034 shares of Simonds Farsons Cisk across a single trade without altering its previous closing price of 82 cents.
Equities in positive territory
Yesterday, European equities ended a strong week by turning around opening losses as takeover activity kept the market buoyant. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.2 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax climbed fractionally to 6,859.22, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.1 per cent.
London equities moved into positive territory by midday, boosted by further M&A speculation and a steady oil price. Oil prices rose sending shares in BP 1.4 per cent higher and Royal Dutch Shell up 1.1 per cent. The FTSE 100 firmed 0.4 per cent, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 0.1 per cent.
The Nikkei reached a fresh three-week closing high, with a weak yen boosting export stocks. The Nikkei 225 was up 0.4 per cent to 17,480.61 by the end of trading. The broader Topix was 0.6 per cent higher at 1,741.94. In the late afternoon the yen was trading at 118 yen to the dollar, sustaining export-focused sectors such as auto - up 0.9 per cent.
US stock-index futures were little changed as speculation that more mergers and acquisitions will boost equities was offset by results from Freddie Mac and Nike Inc. that disappointed investors.
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.