Trading in equities was relatively quiet during the final session of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange as the gain in HSBC Bank Malta shares was offset by losses in Malta International Airport, Middle Sea Insurance and Plaza Centre shares. As a result the index closed just 0.101 per cent higher to close the week at 4,885.462 points.
HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most actively traded equity as well as the session's only gainer. A grand total of 15,105 shares, carrying a market consideration of Lm29,485 were exchanged across 18 transactions. The start of the session saw the equity moving up by 1c, consequently new supply came into the market puling the price back to its starting level of Lm1.95. However, towards the end of the session the share recovered back the initial price movement to close the session at Lm1.96.
Activity in Bank of Valletta plc shares consisted of 7,217 shares which were exchanged across 10 transactions. During the session, the price traded under the Lm3.60 level but at the end still managed to close the session unchanged at Lm3.60.
Plaza Centre shares were hit hardest on the day as 5,500 shares were exchanged across two transactions forcing the equity to lose 3c9 or 5.65 per cent of its value to close the session at 65c1. At the end of the session 2,200 shares remained unsatisfied on the bid side at 64c against supply of 5,000 shares offered at Lm0.69.
Malta International Airport and Middle Sea Insurance shares were the equities that also suffered losses with the share price moving down 1c5 to close at Lm1.33 and Lm1.71 respectively.
Trading activity in FimBank and Maltacom did not affect their previous closing prices of Lm1.95 and Lm1.40 respectively. Activity in Maltacom was quite active with over 13,000 shares being exchanged across eight transactions.
European shares flat
Yesterday, European equities were flat as losses for technology and telecoms stocks offset gains in the mining and power sectors. By late morning in London, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was flat at 1,618.54, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax was down 0.3 per cent as did, the CAC 40 in Paris.
London equities finished the morning session in positive territory as miners continued to rally on firmer base metal prices and the FTSE was cheered by a strong session on Wall Street overnight. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index added 0.3 per cent, while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was also fractionally higher by 0.1 per cent.
The Japanese stock market rose after US indices climbed to record highs overnight. But the advance of the Japanese market was limited by falls in the consumer finance and mobile telecommunications sectors. The Nikkei 225 finished up 0.2 per cent. The broader Topix rose 0.5 per cent, largely reflecting the strong performance of steel stocks, which have a heavy weighting in the index.
US stock-index futures retreated after Google Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. reported profit below analysts' estimates.
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.