Sharp drop in BOV shares

The shares of Bank of Valletta dropped sharply after the Malta Stock Exchange yesterday lifted the trade range of seven per cent on the previous day's average price.

The closing price of BOV shares yesterday was €3.799, compared to the previous close of €4.600, down 17.4 per cent.

Financial services industry sources explained that, following Monday's announcement by BOV that it expected a modest impact from the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank on the results for the last quarter of the current financial year, shares were offered at the bottom of the price range on Tuesday and yesterday but still remained unsold. This led the MSE to lift the price range for yesterday only. In its company announcement, BOV did not elaborate on its exposure following the Lehman Brothers collapse.

Meanwhile, the world's top central banks yesterday joined forces to throw a multi-billion dollar lifeline to global markets in a dramatic effort to free up bank-to-bank lending frozen by upheavals on Wall Street.

In an unprecedented move, the US Federal Reserve made an extra $180 billion available to other major central banks to lend to their local commercial banks in a bid to get US dollars circulating in overnight and short-term money markets.