Local equities got off to a negative start for the week, with the MSE Index registering triple digit declines and shedding in excess of two per cent as a result of a particularly downbeat showing in banking sector stocks.
HSBC Bank Malta plc was the main focal point of the day with the share price losing 11c5 or 5.8 per cent to close the session at the lower end of the day's trading range at Lm1.87.
The equity succumbed under selling pressure, as well as a sudden lack of bids in the market, which can be explained by the fact that the equity commenced trading ex-dividend. This means that all investors who purchased shares during yesterday's session did so without the right to receive a gross interim dividend of 6c4 and a gross special dividend of 4c per share as declared by the board of directors when presenting their interim results last week.
Weak demand characterised the session for Bank of Valletta, whose price moved away from the Lm3.60 level, dropping 2c or 0.56 per cent to close the session at Lm3.58. The day's activity consisted of just 5,920 shares which were transacted across 11 transactions.
Plaza Centres, the leaser of commercial property in the heart of Sliema, reported its interim results for the six months ending June 30 after the closing bell on Friday.
Turnover for the period increased by 8.4 per cent to Lm339,522, whereas pre-tax profits amounted to Lm238,917, a 12.7 per cent increase over the same period last year. No interim dividend was recommended. The day's activity consisted in 12,500 shares which were exchanged without affecting their previous traded price of 68c.
Malta International Airport shed a penny to Lm1.34 as 700 shares changed hands across a single transactions, while Maltacom gained half a cent on robust buying activity.
Elsewhere in the market, International Hotel Investments closed the session at €1.04 after briefly touching €1.05 as 44,500 shares were transacted over nine transactions.
Global stocks decline
Yesterday, European equities fell sharply, responding to a two per cent fall for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street on Friday as credit market woes deepened. IKB, the German small business lender which became Europe's biggest victim of the US subprime market last week, recovered some of its hefty losses. By mid-morning in London, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.8 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax slipped 0.3 per cent, the CAC 40 in Paris shed 1.1 per cent.
UK stocks including SkyePharma plc declined after the drug-formulation company said its US application for an asthma medicine may be delayed. Daily Mail and General Trust Plc rose. Morgan Stanley advised investors to buy shares in the publisher of the UK's Daily Mail newspaper following a slump in the past three months. The FTSE 100 Index fell 0.1 per cent.
Asian stocks fell, extending a rout that wiped $2.66 trillion from global equities, on concern losses in the US subprime mortgage market will slow economic growth and drive up financing costs. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 0.4 per cent.
US stock-index futures rose after UBS AG said Merrill Lynch & Co. and other large brokerages are diversified enough to weather credit-market losses.
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.