Financial news

The low capitalised equities took centre stage at the Malta Stock Exchange yesterday, as significant buying activity poured into the market, pushing the Index higher by over 0.5 per cent to 4,909 points.

FIMBank was the most liquid equity of the session, and continued to benefit from the optimism that currently surrounds the trade finance specialist. The day's activity consisted of 208,342 shares which changed hands across 13 deals to close at $1.98.

Heavy buying activity was instigated in Grand Harbour Marina following an early morning announcement, detailing the execution of a conditional agreement by Camper & Nicholsons Marina Investments Ltd to purchase and acquire a 50 per cent equity interest in the company, with put and call options for a further 20 per cent. The equity registered 15 deals with over 51,000 shares transacted. In the process, the equity rose by seven per cent to close at an all-time high of 74c9.

GlobalCapital was once again the day's top performer, and continued to regain lost ground. On a relatively low number of shares, the equity quickly gained 12c9 to see the day off at Lm1.88. HSBC Bank Malta and Bank of Valletta also benefited from positive sentiment and gave further impetus to the index. HSBC shares climbed 1c5 to close at Lm1.95, while BOV gained a mere one-tenth of a cent to close at Lm3.63.

Medserv, the provider of services to the off-shore oil industry, raced up by over two per cent as 8,000 shares were swapped across three deals for a closing price of Lm1.45. Maltacom registered a very respectable level of activity as 67,285 shares were exchanged over 16 deals. The telecommunication company gained 0.2 cents to regain the Lm1.50 level. Both Maltacom and Medserv, together with Simonds Farsons Cisk, will commence trading "ex-dividend" from today's session.

A lone trade in Malta International Airport, annulled Tuesday's gains of 2c2, so to retrace at the Lm1.34 level.

Elsewhere in the regular market single trades in Datatrak Holdings and International Hotel Investments had no impact on the previous closing prices of 27c and €1.12 respectively.

European equities positive for first time in three days

European stocks rose for the first time in three days yesterday on increased takeover speculation. ABN Amro Holding NV rallied after a Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc-led group offered $98.5 billion for the Dutch bank. Shares of ABN Amro rallied 4.5 per cent to €36.59. Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander Central Hispano SA and Fortis bid €39 a share to buy the Dutch bank. Royal Bank offered 70 per cent in cash and 30 per cent in its shares.

National benchmarks rose in 16 of 18 western European markets. Germany's DAX added 0.9 per cent. France's CAC 40 climbed 1.1 per cent. Indexes extended gains after a US report showed orders for durable goods rose more than forecast in March, indicating business spending started to recover as the first quarter ended.

Tokyo stocks fell sharply, hit by concerns about the impact of a US slowdown on foreign investment in Japanese stocks. The Nikkei 225 stock average closed down 1.2 per cent at 17,236.16, a three-week low. The broad Topix index fell one per cent to 1,687.34. US stock-index futures gained on expectation earnings will keep beating analysts' estimates after PepsiCo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. posted results that topped forecasts.

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.