Financial news

Trading activity for yesterday's session at the Malta Stock Exchange resulted in a negative outcome as the index declined by 0.4 per cent to terminate the day at 2,932.20 points. Activity in the equity market was low albeit increasing marginally from the previous session as investors exchanged a total of 19 deals.

Bank of Valletta was the sole negative performer during the session as selling pressure lowered the price by 6c which equates to 2.3 per cent to end the day at €2.59. The equity was trading at an intra-day high of €2.645 when investors deemed the price as too high, suppressing it to its present standing.

The financial services company was also the session's most actively traded equity as 6,694 shares were transacted over 10 deals for a market consideration of €17,490.

HSBC Bank was a non-mover during the session as the price closed unchanged from the previous day to close at €2.61. The Bank was also the session's most liquid equity as investors swapped 8,500 shares over a total of eight deals.

Share prices also remained unchanged for Lombard Bank Malta which terminated the session at €2.55. Trading activity was nevertheless on the low side as two investors transacted a total of 1,000 shares.

Despite not being active for the day's trading session, Go announced that Forgendo Limited, which is the joint venture company between Go and Emirates International Telecommunications Malta Ltd has acquired a further 293,550 shares in Forthnet is issued share capital, for a total consideration of €537,284.

In the fixed interest sector of the market, activity was spread over seven government stocks and six corporate stocks. The highest turnover in the government securities was registered in the 5.7 per cent MGS 2012(III) and the 5.4 per cent MGS 2010 (IV) as two investors in each security transacted €5,000,000 to terminate the session at €108.53 and €102.17 respectively.

Weekly UK economic review

The economic data coming from the United Kingdom during the week contained mixed results with encouraging indicators in the country's dominant services sector as well as growing consumer confidence. On a negative note however, both industrial and manufacturing production declined.

Britain's services sector expanded for a second month in June despite the fact that the pace of recovery eased as new business contracted and firms stepped up the pace of job cuts. The headline Purchaser's Manager's Index eased from a reading of 51.7 to its present 51.6, which despite being below the anticipated reading of 52, it was still above the 50-mark that denotes growth. Further supporting this, consumer confidence also edged up in June as people became more optimistic about the future of the economy. In fact, the Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index rose to a reading of 58 in June from an upwardly revised 54 in May, almost reaching the 59 reading a year earlier. Meanwhile, in the housing market prices fell less than expected in June at their slowest rate in 11 months. House prices fell 0.5 per cent in June for an annual rate decline of 12.5 per cent which was the slowest since last July.

Industrial production figures took a downward trend during the month of May as they declined by 0.6 per cent from their prior positive 0.3 per cent gains, confounding expectation of a 0.2 percentage growth. Similarly, manufacturing production also declined in May by 0.5 per cent from their previous 0.2 per cent increase a month earlier.

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.