Financial news
Negative start for the week
The fixed interest sector of the market took centre stage yesterday as an unexciting session loomed over the equity market. The Malta Stock Exchange closed the session with a slight negative bias at 4831.72, dropping 0.18 per cent.
Middlesea Insurance was the day's worst performer as trading in the equity was characterised by lack of demand. A single deal in the equity was executed at 3c lower than its previous close, as the equity closed at Lm1.87. When the session terminated, a further 797 shares remained outstanding on the offer side at Lm1.89, against demand for 300 shares at Lm1.85.
Selling pressures were also prevalent in HSBC Bank Malta, as over 10,000 shares were traded across 14 deals, to see the closing price off at Lm1.88. At the end of the session the best demand stood for 530 shares at Lm1.885 against a supply of 250 shares at Lm1.89. Bank of Valletta shares were the only positive performer in yesterday's trading session, as the largest bank in asset terms gained 1c to close the session at Lm3.57.
The exchange of 2,070 Malta International Airport shares trimmed two-tenths of a cent from the equity's previous closing price, as the airport operator shares closed at Lm1.36. Elsewhere in the regular market trades in FIMBank, Lombard Bank and Simonds Farsons Cisk left the respective equity prices unmoved at $1.95, Lm4.92 and 85c, with relatively significant amount of volumes traded in the trade finance specialist FIMBank.
Trading activity in government stocks saw a drop in price in all traded issues, resulting in higher yields across practically the whole yield curve. This follows last week's announcement of two fungible stock issues by the government of Malta which were priced at an attractive premium compared to existing issues already trading on the secondary market.
European equities positive
European equities rose to fresh six-year highs, led by banks as the takeover of Dutch group ABN Amro returned to focus. ABN Amro rose 6.5 per cent after Spain's Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland and Dutch-Belgian group Fortis asked for access to ABN's books just days before the expiry of the 30-day period of exclusive talks with Britain's Barclays.
The prospect of further M&A in the banking sector drove the FTSE 100 to a fresh six-and-a-half-year high. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.7 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax added 0.7 per cent, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6 per cent and London's FTSE 100 climbed 0.5 per cent. With financial stocks to the fore, the index was 33.3 points higher at 6,495.9 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 rose 54.4 points to 11,967.1.
Japanese stocks advanced strongly in response to a weaker yen, which drove up export-focused stocks. The Nikkei 225 ended 1.5 per cent higher. The Topix, which has a lighter weighting of export-focused technology stocks, finished up 1.2 per cent.
US stock-index futures rose on mergers and acquisitions speculation after SLM Corp., the education lender known as Sallie Mae, accepted a $25 billion bid.
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.