Financial news

Trading for yesterday's session at the Malta Stock Exchange resulted in no change to the index which remained flat at 3,011 points. Activity for the day was relatively muted and spread over an aggregate 18 deals with investors trading in five active listings.

Bank of Valletta was the day's best performer as the equity rose by 1c9 or 0.8 per cent on fresh buying interest which pushed the price up to €2.399. Trading activity for the financial services company was spread over three deals and a market consideration of €2,870.

HSBC Bank Malta moved lower by the slimmest of margins as a mere 200 shares were exchanged at the €2.599 level. At the end of the session 3,800 shares remained outstanding on the offer side at this level against demand for 4,000 shares best bid at €2.50.

GO was the most liquid and actively traded equity for the day as a total of 12,707 shares, carrying a market consideration of €21,935, were struck over 12 deals. Nevertheless, the equity closed the day unchanged at the €1.73 level for the second consecutive session.

International Hotel Investments was the day's laggard as it shed a marginal half a cent equating to a 0.5 per cent decline to terminate the session at €0.935. Activity in the second largest equity in terms of market capitalisation was low with just 762 shares transacted over a single deal.

Similarly, low volume of just 1,000 shares characterised the trading session of Malta International Airport as it gained a negligible 0c1 to end the day at €2.18.

In the fixed interest sector of the market, activity was spread over seven government stocks and seven corporate bonds. The best performer in the corporate debt issues was registered in the 5.6 per cent GlobalCapital 2014/16 which gained 500 ticks over two deals to end the session at €80.00.

International market report - weekly round-up

Most of the economic data in the US last week can perhaps best be summed up as a reminder that despite the significant improvement in leading economic indicators, economic recovery may still be uneven for some time.

This was clear from the Minutes of the Federal Reserve (Fed) April 29 meeting in which policymakers downgraded their outlook for all of 2009. The Fed now expects the economy to shrink between 1.3 and 2 per cent this year, slightly worse that the earlier forecast of 0.5 to 1.3 per cent contraction. The unemployment rate is now expected to hit nearly 10 per cent, up from 8.8 per cent in the old forecast. Complementing the bearish trend were weaker figures for the housing market which saw builders breaking ground on the fewest homes on record in April. At the same time, building permits, a sign of future construction fell 3.3 per cent to a record low pace. This dents somewhat the outlook for the sector which had started to show possible signs of stabilisation in recent weeks.

Also on a negative note, April retail sales declined -0.4 per cent, following downward revisions to March. Elsewhere, the March international trade figures were still consistent with declining overall economic activity.

Meanwhile, data emanating from the manufacturing sector confirmed the impression that the outlook is getting better as evidenced by improvements in both the Empire manufacturing survey and industrial production. Finally, the April core Consumer Price Index rose by a larger-than-expected 0.3 per cent, mainly on the back of a few one-off factors that are unlikely to be repeated.

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.