Despite three positive sessions during the week, the Malta Stock Exchange Index lost 0.54 per cent, which was mainly due to a drop of 0.671 per cent registered on Monday. The index suffered its second consecutive weekly loss closing the week at 3,470.976 points. The number of gainers and losers tallied at five in the equity market, while two other equities remained unchanged. Trading volume during the week rose to 383,380 shares with activity in FIMBank plc shares again dominating the market.
Turnover in the Corporate Bonds market increased significantly this week, from last week’s €1.36 million to €5.37 million; however this was mainly due to the repurchase of €3.75 million by Baystreet Finance plc 2012 of its eight per cent Bonds. This repurchase by the company amounts to 63.4 per cent of the original amount of bonds outstanding. Mean while in the Government Stocks market a nominal of 1.47 million was traded across 90 deals, reaching a value of €1.55million. In the treasury bills market a single trade worth €1.94million was registered.
After last week’s return to trading, GlobalCapital plc shares this week led the way for positive performers, with a staggering rise of 26.38 per cent yesterday, or €0.263. The equity closed the week at €1.26, with 21,800 shares being exchanged over four deals, and thus almost bouncing back to last week’s closing price of €1.28.
FIMBank plc shares were the best performers in the banking sector, as shares traded increased to 146,746 across six deals, with trade being almost equally concentrated on two sessions. FIMBank’s share price appreciated to by 2.15 per cent to $0.95 on Monday, remaining intact during the following trading session.
The share price of Bank of Valletta plc returned to positive territory as its gain this week matched last week’s decline of 0.54 per cent. Volatility in the equity’s share price was again low, trading between €3.679 and this week’s closing share price of €3.70. Volume traded decreased slightly on the week amounting to 56,766 shares over 70 deals.
Conversely, HSBC Bank Malta plc shares continued to fall, closing the week 1.7 per cent lower at €2.89, after trading at a high of €2.93 and a low of €2.88, with trading volume increasing significantly to 75,949 shares across 40 trades.
Lombard Bank plc closed the week unchanged at €2.57, having registered two transactions of 3,600 shares. Similarly, RS2 Software plc share price remained flat at €0.50 from Monday to Wednesday, as 4,000 shares changed hands across three deals.
On the other hand, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc was the worst performer this week, with a drop of 2.86 per cent on Tuesday, while trading unchanged yesterday. The equity closed at €1.70, as equities changing hands amounted to 2,114 over two trades.
In contrast, Go plc shares advanced by €0.01 or 0.53 per cent, to close the week at €1.91, as shares traded totalled 35,940 shares on 16 deals.
On the negative side, Maltapost plc share price retreated by 2.11 per cent, or €0.02. A total of 8,606 shares changed hands across five deals, and thus lowering the share price to €0.93.
Likewise, Middlesea Insurance plc lost in value this week, as its share price fell marginally lower to €1.045. Declines of 0.29 per cent and 0.19 per cent were registered on Wednesday and Thursday, while remaining flat yesterday, as these movements were backed up by 8,000 shares over four trades.
Malta International Airport plc was the other gainer this week, as its shares rose by 1.23 per cent in value, to close at €1.645, with 3,627 shares changing hands on five transactions. On the other hand, International Hotel Investments plc lost 1.95 per cent, having registered six deals of 16,232 shares, reducing its share price to €0.755, a decrease of €0.015.
During the week, Crimsonwing plc issued its Interim Financial Statements for the six-month financial period ending September 30, 2010. Profit after tax for the six-month period declined minimally from €151,510 to €148,034, however the income tax expense lost from €1,934 to €145,238. The company also reported that revenue for the 6months increased to €7.06million, a rise of 17.5 per cent.
On Thursday, the Directors of MIDI plc announced that an EGM was held on December 2, 2010 where a resolution was passed to enable companies that are connected persons of some of the directors to participate in the share issue. This was followed by another announcement confirming that the share issue had closed.
This article, which was co-mpiled 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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