This was a short week for the local market, which traded only on Monday and Tuesday with the Malta Stock Exchange index closing at 3,196.793 points, a 2.50% fall over last week. Since the beginning of the year, the index has lost 35.26%, with two trading sessions left to go. During the week, four equities were negotiated, all closing in negative territory. Datatrak was the worst performer, losing 5.47%.

A total of 82 deals were registered on the stock exchange for a turnover of over €2.67 million. In the equity market, 33 transactions were carried out for a total value of €144,913. In the corporate bond market, 16 transactions for a total value of €247,818 were executed, while in the government bond market, 23 transactions were executed for a value of over €417,589. Ten transactions were carried out in the Treasury Bills market for a value of over €1.86m on Monday and Tuesday.

Bank of Valletta plc was the most active as 19 transactions were executed on a volume of 16,681 shares. The share price fell on Monday by 2.86% to € 3.40, but was up by 1% on Tuesday, closing the session at €3.434. The bank's share price is down 49.33% year to date, with 2.39m shares changing hands in 2,581 deals transacted this year. It was the most active equity traded in 2008.

HSBC Bank Malta plc saw its share price fall by 1.82% as it closed the session on Monday at €2.70, when 30,145 shares were negotiated across 10 deals. The equity did not trade on Tuesday. Year to date, the bank's share price is down 42.05% as 2,073 transactions were executed on a volume of 2.27m shares.

On Monday, the share price of Go plc fell by 1.08% to €1.83 as 1,050 shares were negotiated across two deals. The share price is down 41.81% year to date as 647 transactions were executed this year on a volume of 964,687 shares.

Datatrak plc was the only other traded equity this week, closing the session on Tuesday at €0.19 as 23,415 shares changed hands on two deals. Year to date the equity is down 37.7% as the equity only traded 19 times with a total volume of 98,669 shares.

In total, five corporate bonds traded this week, with the 4.6% HSBC Bank Malta plc 2017 trading nine times on a volume of 232,101. The closing price was €99.85, slightly higher than last week's closing price.

In the Malta Government Bonds market, nine bonds were traded with the most active being the 5%MGS 2021(1), which closed the week at €107.35 as nine deals were transacted, reaching a volume of 257,293. The closing price was similarly slightly higher than the previous Friday's closing price. Out of the nine bonds traded, three ended the week lower while all other bonds traded ended the week higher.

Four treasury bills were traded with the January 9 and January 16, 2009, maturity being the most active as the value between the two totalled €1.56m. Treasury bills continue to be very active even in the last few days of trading.

With two trading sessions remaining, I thought it appropriate to analyse the performance of local companies registered on the MSE.

So far, only four companies have seen an increase in their share price this year, namely Maltapost plc, Grand Harbour Marina plc, San Tumas Shareholding plc and RS2 Software plc.

Maltapost plc's share price is up 62%. The equity was offered to investors in 2008 at the price of €0.50. It traded 979 times and reached a volume of over €3.6m shares and last traded at €0.81, having traded at a high of €0.968 during the year.

The second best performer is Grand Harbour Marina plc, which appreciated by 13.34% as a total volume of 324,134 shares were negotiated across 121 deals. The share price stands at €1.98, having traded at a high of €2.354 and a low of €1.70.

The third best performer is Plaza Centres plc whose share price appreciated by 10.83% from €1.561 to €1.73, as a total volume of 507,727 shares were negotiated across 67 deals.

The fourth best performer is San Tumas Shareholdings plc, which appreciated by 6.46%, having traded at a low of €2.562 in 2008. Total deals numbered 12 as the volume of shares traded amounted to 14,463.

The last positive performing equity for 2008 so far is RS2 Software plc whose share price appreciated by 1.87% in value from the launch price of €0.80 to €0.815. Fifty-eight transactions were carried out for a total volume of 232,415 shares. The equity had traded at a high of €0.83 and a low of €0.74.

The share price of Crimsonwing plc dropped 0.6% to €0.497 from €0.50, having traded at a high of €0.62. A total of over one million shares were negotiated across 192 deals.

Medserv plc was the least negotiated equity during the year as 13,505 shares were negotiated across nine deals for a total value of €54,666. The share price fell 2.51% from €4.10 to €3.997, having traded at a high of €4.191.

6pm Holdings plc fell by 4.11% in value as its share price stands at £0.70 from £ 0.73, having traded at a high of £0.78. During this year, 193,079 shares were negotiated across 38 transactions.

International Hotel Investments plc saw its share price drop by 13.94% to €0.895 as 375 deals for a total value of over two million euros were executed. This despite that for the period ended June, 30, 2008, the group registered a turnover of €64.3m, and 65% higher on the turnover levels for the corresponding period in 2007, and registered a pre-tax profit of €6.01m, compared to a loss before tax of €1.63m in 2007.

The other two quoted banks on the MSE, Lombard Bank plc and Fimbank plc, lost 16.96% and 20.87% respectively. Lombard traded 231 times as 798,780 shares changed hands. On the other hand, Fimbank registered the highest volume traded in 2008 as more than 6.2m shares changed hands. The share price fell from $1.744 to $1.38.

Malta International Airport plc saw its share price drop by 22.24% to €2.50, as a total value of over €1.8m was negotiated across 371 deals.

Simonds Farsons Cisk plc dropped by 25.84% from €2.562 to €1.90 as 133,662 shares were negotiated across 95 transactions.

Middleasea Insurance plc also had a bad year. As global financial markets tumbled, the share price fell by 33.65% from €3.843 to €2.55, as 319,347 shares changed hands on 101 transactions.

Finally, Global Capital plc was the worst performer this year as its share price dropped from €5.602 to €1.991, as only 50 deals were transacted and 39,579 shares changed hands.

Unlike the equity market, local corporate bonds and government stocks have in the main registered healthy profits. In the corporate bond market, most bonds either retained their 2007 price or appreciated in value, with only a few bonds falling in value. This is in sharp contrast to the international corporate bond market which has had a very bad year.

Similarly, the local government stocks which were not the flavour of the month for many months turned out to be the growth investments for 2008, with nearly all stocks appreciating in value and the longer dated stocks appreciating by between four to just under nine per cent.

As this is the last round-up for 2008, I wish all readers a prosperous New Year.

This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi Financial Services Limited (JMFS), does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. JMFS is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned in this article.

For further information contact JMFS at 67/3, South Street, Valletta or on Tel: 21224410 or e-mail jmizzi@jmfs.net.

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