Financial news

During a relatively active mid-week session at the Malta Stock Exchange, the MSE Index continued its decline, falling by 0.5 per cent to close at 4,430 points. Eight equities were active throughout the session with an aggregate value of just under €108,600 spread over 48 deals.

Maltapost ended in negative territory, losing 5c or 6.3 per cent to end the session at €0.75 with a total of 9,022 shares changing ownership across six trades. The other negative mover was HSBC Bank Malta which also shed 5c, equating to a 1.2 per cent drop to close at the €4.10 level with 3,970 shares being exchanged over five deals. This is the lowest for the equity since the start of the year.

Bank of Valletta was the day's most liquid and actively traded equity with a grand total of 13,376 shares changing ownership across 24 transactions. At the opening bell the equity started trading unchanged before moving down to trade at an intra-day low of €5. By the end of the session the equity managed to regain all the lost ground, to close unchanged at the €5.05 level.

Trading activity in Malta International Airport started well into the session with trades passed at the day's lower trade range threshold of €3.11,5. The equity bounced back towards the end of the session, when two investors traded their shares at the previous closing price of €3.35, bringing the total turnover for the day to 3,800 shares.

Interest in Go to the tune of 1,340 failed to see the closing price of €2.90 being unchanged, even though it had managed to trade higher during the session.

On the other hand, trades exchanged in International Hotel Investments, FIMBank and Simonds Farsons Cisk did not alter their previous price levels.

Weekly UK economic review

The UK Monetary Policy Committee's (MPC) decision to hold interest rates unchanged at the five per cent level confirms that inflation concerns and the impact on the market of what would have been the first back to back easing since 2001, are likely to have weighted on the committee's decision. The upshot is that, while the outlook for growth points to the need for much lower interest rates, the MPC is likely to continue to deliver the medicine in fairly small doses until inflation pressures eventually start to abate.

Meanwhile, Britain's inflation rate jumped to three per cent compared up from 2.5 per cent in March. Inflation, stoked by food and energy prices, is now within 0.1 percentage point to trigger a letter from the Governor of the Bank of England to the Chancellor explaining why inflation is more than one per cent above the target rate.

Elsewhere, the British retail consortium (BRC) revealed that like-for-like sales slumped by an annual 1.5 per cent during the month of April. That followed a 1.6 per cent fall in March and was the first time sales have fallen in consecutive months since 2005.

What's more, the housing market conditions continued to deteriorate in every region in Britain. Indeed the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) balance of surveyors reporting house price falls dropped to a new low of -95 per cent in the three months to April. This was the weakest figure since the series began in 1978 and well below forecasts.

This article has been prepared by Bank of Valletta p.l.c. (the Bank), which is licensed to conduct investment services business by the MFSA, for your general information only. This information is not a solicitation or offer by the Bank to acquire or sell securities. Nor does it constitute any form of advice by the Bank. Appropriate advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance and the value of your investments may fall or rise.