Financial News

The two major Maltese banks pulled down the index on Malta Stock Exchange yesterday as the index closed at 3902.010, falling by more than 17 points, or 0.452 per cent, on what otherwise would have been a positive trading session.

The shares of both Bank of Valletta and HSBC Bank Malta fell in yesterday's session as BoV fell by 4c9, or almost 1.4 per cent, to close the day at €3.50, while HSBC lost 1c4, or 0.3 per cent, to close at €3.986.

FIMBank plc finished on the upside yesterday as shares of the specialised bank gained 3c5 to close at US$1.175, or up 3.1 per cent, in one deal of 8,500 shares.

Malta International Airport plc had a strong day as well as the airport management company closed up 10c, or 3.4 per cent, to end the session at €3, in a single deal of 700 shares. Continuing its rebound of late was Middlesea Insurance plc which had another positive day yesterday, closing up 1c to close at €0.87.

International Hotel Investments plc was the sole non-bank issue to close in negative territory in the session as a single trade of 5,000 shares dropped the company's share price by 1c6 , or 2.0 per cent, to close at €0.784. Other non-movers that traded in the day were GlobalCapital plc which closed at €1.70 on 2,500 shares, Go plc which closed at €2.285 on heavy volume of 37,000 shares, Island Hotels Group Holdings plc which closed at €1.01 on 400 shares in a single deal, Lombard Bank Malta plc which closed at €3.12 on 3,752 shares and Maltapost plc which traded 36,545 shares and closed at €0.80.

The week ahead - Economic indicators for week starting January 25

In the United States, the week's highlights will be on the Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy meeting and the annualised Gross Domestic Product figures for the fourth quarter of 2009. The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, whilst fourth quarter GDP growth is expected to have accelerated sharply to 4.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter from its downward revised increase of 2.2 per cent in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Durable Goods' orders are expected to register an increase of 2 per cent in December after registering a more subdued gain of 0.2 per cent in November. In the housing market, New Home Sales are expected to remain sluggish and rebound by just 370,000 units in December after plunging 11.3 per cent in November.

In the 16-country members of the euro, the week's attention will turn to the unemployment figures which will be published on Friday. Consensus expects that the jobless rate will increase to 10.1 per cent in December, up from November's 10 per cent. Meanwhile, eurozone economic sentiment has risen strongly in each of the last nine months and consensus anticipates that January will post another positive reading of 92.3 from its prior 91.3. Elsewhere, headline inflation is expected to have continued to increase from December's 0.9 per cent to an anticipated increase of 1.2 per cent in January.

In the United Kingdom, the week's main event will be the preliminary results of fourth quarter GDP results. Consensus expects that the UK has finally emerged from the recession as economic indicators have continued to rise in recent months. Thus economists are predicting that the country's economy expanded by 0.4 per cent in the last quarter up from a negative 0.2 per cent registered in the third quarter.

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.