The share price of Malta International Airport plc edged 1.3 per cent higher to regain the €1.58 level following yesterday’s traffic results announcement and revised forecast for the year.

CEO Julian Jaeger said during a news conference that ipassenger movements in June increased by 19.3 per cent over the same month last year.

He also reviewed the figures for the first six months of the year. During this period the total increase was of 10.3 per cent despite the sharp decline in April due to the ash cloud.

The growth in passenger numbers was mainly due to the increased seat capacity following the introduction of new routes by various airlines.

Given the positive performance during the first six months of the year, MIA again revised upwards its passenger growth forecast for the year to eight per cent. MIA will be publishing its interim financial results on July 29.

Meanwhile, the share prices of the two large banks consolidated the gains accumulated in the previous sessions.

Bank of Valletta plc opened higher at €3.25,1 but eased back to yesterday’s close of €3.24 level during the remainder of the session on total volumes of just under 13,000 shares.

BOV ranks as this week’s best performer with a gain of 5.6 per cent. Meanwhile HSBC Bank Malta plc closed one per cent higher to regain the €3.02,9 level across 14 trades amounting to 13,216 shares.

Go plc also climbed 1.6 per cent higher to close at the €1.93 level on a single trade of 1,000 shares. Meanwhile the two other active equities, namely International Hotel Investments plc and Middlesea Insurance plc, closed unchanged at €0.80 and €1.15, respectively.

On the bond market, high volumes were again evident in the seven per cent GAP Developments plc 2013 and the eight per centBOV USD 2010 while the 6.2 per cent Tumas Investments plc 2017-20 bond climbed 250 basis points to 102.50 per cent on its first day of trading.

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