Financial news

The local equity market commenced a fresh new month in negative territory as a bout of selling activity sent the MSE Index lower by 0.76 per cent to 4,870 points.

HSBC Bank Malta being the largest company on the exchange was the major drag on the market with the price dropping by 1c9 or one per cent to Lm1.91,1 in the final half hour of trading. Indeed, most of the day's trades, where 19,971 shares were exchanged across 16 transactions, were executed at the Lm1.93 level.

Bank of Valletta shed 2c or 0.55 per cent as 10,151 shares were swapped across nine deals. Similarly to HSBC, initial buying activity saw investors picking up shares at their previous closing price of Lm3.65 but subsequent action saw the share price trading at an intra-day low of Lm3.62, to finally settle at Lm3.63 at the closing bell.

Maltacom was the day's biggest loser, with the equity losing in excess of Lm7.5 million worth of market capitalisation as investors continued to show their disappointment at the director's lack of a dividend declaration.

The day's activity was more voluminous than Friday's with a grand total of 28,890 shares changing hands across nine transactions. The equity closed the session lower by 7c5 or 5.2 per cent at Lm1.37,5, its lowest level since mid-March.

GlobalCapital shed 8c or 4.1 per cent to close the session at Lm1.87 as the market reacted for the first time since the publication of the group's interim results. Elsewhere, Malta International Airport were short a penny as two investors swapped 1,370 shares at the Lm1.39 level.

Medserv closed the day unchanged at Lm1.60 as the group issued their financial statements for the six months ending June 30, 2007, which were negatively affected by some delays in offshore Libya. This was expected and previously stated in both the results for the full year 2006 and the Interim director's statement. This adverse trend saw profits turn into losses for the company, with a drop of nearly 200 per cent in pre-tax profits to a reported pre-tax loss of Lm227,422.

European markets positive

Yesterday, European equity markets made a positive start to trading and moved higher by mid-morning, helped by strength in the banking and carmakers sectors. Merger activity in the Nordic financial sector provided early interest. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 0.3 per cent, to 1,539.76, while in Frankfurt, the Xetra Dax gained 0.4 per cent, at 7,665.36, but in Paris, the CAC 40 was virtually flat, trading just 0.3 points higher at 5,663.0.

In London Barclays was a leading gainer as the FTSE moved higher for the ninth session out of the last 10. Mid-cap engineering and transport stocks contributed to a 0.5 per cent gain on the FTSE 250, taking it 67.7 points higher to 11,376.1. By late morning, the FTSE 100 was 21.8 points, or 0.3 per cent, higher at 6,325.3, with some fresh energy provided by bid activity. Over the last 10 sessions, the main index has now gained almost eight per cent.

The Japanese stock market fell mildly due to disappointing capital investment and employee earnings numbers. The Nikkei 225 ended the trading day down 0.3 per cent at 16,524.93 while the broader Topix lost 0.2 per cent to 1,605.44.

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.