The Malta Stock Exchange Index ended the week with a 1.01 per cent gain to close at 3,374.267 points. A slight decline of 0.133 per cent was only registered on Thursday, while the highest gain was recorded on Monday as the index increased 0.382 per cent from the previous day. Trading activity across all markets rose from 388 to 501 deals as trading in the government stocks was the most influential to this increase. The number of gainers and losers tallied at four in the equity market, while three other equities remained unchanged.
Turnover in the Government Stock market rose from €3.41 million to €5.24 million dealt over 266 trades. In the equity market, turnover continued to fall, as the value traded reached €407,247 on 140 transactions, while in the Corporate Bond market turnover declined to €397,804, almost half that registered last week. Three deals were executed in the Treasury Bills market, for a value of €7.82 million.
Bank of Valletta plc was the best performer for the week with an increase of 3.4 per cent or €0.11 to its share price. BOV shares in fact closed at this week’s high of €3.35. A volume of just over 59,300 shares changed hands across 57 deals, for a value of €195,621, the highest turnover of the traded equities. The equity’s price gained ground on all trading sessions, except for Thursday when it remained unchanged.
Shortly after close of yesterday’s trading session, the group ann-ounced that the board of directors approved the audited financial statements for the financial year ended September 30. A profit before tax of €98.9 million was registered by the group, a rise of 21 per cent when compared to €81.8 milion reported over the same period last year. Earnings per share rose from €0.245 to €0.317. The directors also recommended the payment of a net dividend of €0.104 per share, to be approved at the AGM, and a bonus share issue of one share for every five shares held, which will be allotted to shareholders on the bank’s share register as at close of business on January 12, 2011. The bonus issue will be funded by a capitalisation of reserves amounting to €40 million.
HSBC Bank Malta plc returned to positive territory this week, after three weeks of consecutive losses. The closing share price was €2.80, a rise of 1.08 per cent or €0.03. A total of 31 trades were registered consisting of 39,448 shares. Gains of 0.9 per cent and 0.18 per cent were registered on Monday and Wednesday respectively, while remaining unchanged in the other trading sessions.
FIMBank plc was active only during Monday’s session closing at $0.93, a drop of 2.11 per cent, as 15,550 shares changed hands over four deals.
The share price of Lombard Bank plc resulted in a 3.85 per cent or €0.10 decrease following declines of 0.77 per cent on Monday and 3.1 per cent on Thursday. In fact, the equity ended the week at €2.50, making it the worst performing equity as its share price slid over four trades as 4,600 shares were traded.
Malta International Airport plc shares continued to consolidate the gains registered in the last two weeks, as its share price climbed by a further 2.5 per cent this week. Activity was spread across 17 transactions of 15,642 shares, ending the week at €1.64. After 10 months of trading, the equity is now at a year-to-date gain of just over 36.6 per cent.
Go plc, Middlesea Insurance plc and International Hotel Investments plc closed the week flat at €1.87, €1.00 and €0.80 respectively. Both MSI and IHI shares closed unchanged on two trading sessions, while Go plc shares lost 0.05 per cent on Wednesday, however, recouped the loss yesterday. IHI was the most traded of these equities, as 28,589 shares changed hands over seven deals.
On the downside, the share price of Island Hotels Group Holdings plc lost 3.16 per cent yesterday, or €0.031, closing the week at €0.949 on a single trade of 1,000 shares.
Likewise, Maltapost plc retreated from last week’s 2.2 per cent gain ending the week at €0.91, a decline of almost 1.1 per cent on a volume of 12,724 shares. In contrast, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc recovered last week’s loss, with an increase of 1.74 per cent, as it closed yesterday’s session at €1.75 backed by a mere 333 shares on a single deal.
This week the Treasury ann-ounced the issue of two fungible issues, the MGS 3.75% 2015 and the MGS 5.25% 2030 which in the aggregate will total to €100 million. Applications will open on November 8 and close on November 10. The prices of these new issues will be announced on Thursday.
This article, which was compiled by Atlas JMFS Investment Services Limited, does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. Atlas JMFS is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA and is a member firm of the Malta Stock Exchange. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned in this article.
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