Stock Market: Middlesea results dent BOV’s share price

The announcement by Middlesea Insurance plc yesterday afternoon announcing its 2009 full-year results and revealing a loss of €54.4 million negatively affected BOV’s share price during this morning’s session on the Borza.

Since BOV holds just over 30 per cent of the total share capital of Middlesea, investors grew concerned on the impact of this loss on the overall financial performance of BOV.

Fresh sale orders entered the market this morning forcing BOV’s share price to close 1.2 per cent lower at €3.37 on volumes of 13,500 shares. In the previous two sessions of the week BOV’s share price had increased by 2.4 per cent to €3.41 in anticipation of the publication of the March 2010 interim results due next Friday.

The impact of the losses suffered by Middlesea on BOV’s financial performance will show up in these half-year results.

Meanwhile Middlesea Insurance failed to register any trades today. Despite the record loss announced yesterday afternoon, bids for 500 shares remain outstanding at the last traded price of €0.70 with lowest offers at the €0.73 level.

The share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc edged minimally higher to close at €3.081 while Malta International Airport plc held on to yesterday’s 2.2 per cent gain as a further 2,100 shares changed hands at this level.

After climbing by 6.25 per cent to a two-year high of €0.85, the share price of MaltaPost plc closed minimally lower at €0.84,8 on 2 trades totalling 8,551 shares.

On the bond market, Malta Government Stock prices continued to climb as eurozone benchmark yields dropped below the three per cent level following the downgrades to Greece and Portugal sovereign paper.

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