The Malta Stock Exchange index closed the week marginally lower at 3,468.306 points, a fall of 0.08 per cent, having shed 1.569 per cent on Monday followed by four consecutive positive sessions with the highest gain of 0.8 per cent registered on Tuesday. Trading activity this week decreased by almost half in all markets as deals executed reduced from 700 to 382, for a total value of €6.29 million.
In the equity market, turnover fell to a value of €906,501 across 188 trades, with over 60 per cent of this activity in Bank of Valletta plc shares. Twelve equities were active during this week of which five closed in negative territory, three edged higher and four other equities traded flat. In the Corporate Bond market turnover reached a value of €588,073 over 79 transactions, while in the Government Stock market, a nominal of over 1.56 million worth €1.70 million was traded across 112 trades. The Treasury Bills market returned to trading this week, having registered three deals of €3.09 million.
Bank of Valletta plc and FIMBank plc were the only equities in the financial sector to register a gain this week. BOV registered a rise of 1.67 per cent, or €0.06, closing at €3.66. BOV shares registered a decline of 4.17 per cent on Monday as the shares went ex-dividend, ending the session at this week’s low of €3.45. The equity recovered substantially in the consequent two sessions, closing at €3.52 and €3.63, lost some ground on Thursday and finally ending the week at €3.66 with yesterday’s 1.1 per cent gain. For the second week running, BOV shares dominated activity on the MSE as 168,148 shares changed hands on 115 deals, for a total value of €593,958
This week’s other gaining financial equity, FIMBank plc appreciated by almost 1.1 per cent, or $0.01, to close at $0.94 as 12 deals of 62,500 shares were executed. A gain of 2.15 per cent was registered on Wednesday when most trading took place only to lose 1.05 per cent during the following session on a mere 500 shares.
After last week’s remarkable 10.8 per cent gain, the share price of Lombard Bank plc retreated by 0.72 per cent on Monday on a single deal of 1,500 shares, closing the week at €2.75, a loss of €0.02.
Similarly, HSBC Bank Malta plc shares returned to negative territory with a loss of 0.66 per cent. Declines amounting to 2.25 per cent were registered on three trading sessions which were reduced by the 1.6 per cent gains reported on Tuesday and Thursday. Activity was spread across 26 deals, consisting of 40,361 shares with the share price closing at €2.88.
The worst performing equity this week was Malta International Airport plc, as its share price dropped by €0.049 on a single trade of 5,000 shares to end the week 2.97 per cent lower at €1.60.
Maltapost plc shares also closed lower, having registered a single trade of a mere 363 shares traded at €0.91 and losing a marginal 0.11 per cent on the week.
Middlesea Insurance plc, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, Plaza Centres plc and Medserv plc all closed the week unchanged at €1.00, €1.75, €1.70 and €4.27 respectively. SFC registered the highest number of trades, with 7,041 shares changing hands across five deals, while Plaza saw the highest number of shares being exchanged, as a total of 14,600 shares were dealt.
International Hotel Investments plc share price slid by 1.28 per cent on Monday closing at €0.77 and maintained this closing price throughout the following sessions, as 86,466 shares were dealt across 10 trades.
Conversely, the share price of Go plc continued to gain ground this week, closing at €1.885 and marking a 0.27 per cent gain on last week, as 17,180 shares changed hands on nine transactions.
During the week, the Treasury announced that due to a strong demand for its latest Malta Government Stock issue, the subscription for its issue was closed shortly after it was over-subscribed by members of the public. Since the issuance was over-subscribed, there was no balance available to be allocated under the auction/bid system. The Treasury received 4,953 applications/bids having a total value of €216,153,406 and will announce the allotment of the €100 million on issue to members of the public on Monday, November 15, 2010.
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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