December lifts MSE’s spirits

Last week the Malta Stock Exchange index recovered from the previous week’s loss to reach 3,504.846 points. The index climbed slightly higher in every session of the holiday-shortened trading week to close on Friday with a gain of just under 1%.

There have now been six consecutive positive sessions, which followed a continuation of the bullish tone surrounding the two main local banks primarily.

Out of the 10 equities traded, only three reported losses, while another two kept their prices unchanged. The remaining five helped boost the index with steady week-on-week gains.

Nevertheless, the MSE index still has a lot of catching up to do compared to similar indices in developed countries on a year-to-date basis. The local index has increased a mere 1.3% since the start of the year, while a number of international indices are registering double digit gains.

Notwithstanding the shorter trading week, the volume of shares exchanged were still on the high side with just over 304,000 shares traded in 155 deals.

Nearly a third of all shares traded last week were dealt in Bank of Valletta plc (BoV), almost 100,000 shares changing hands across 80 deals. Investors are evidently still focused on this equity sustaining its upward momentum.

The share price closed the week at €3.77, or 1.89% higher, surpassing the latest ceiling of €3.70 and recovering from a weekly low of €3.699. This adds to BoV’s steadily improving year-to-date performance, which now stands at a total gain of 21.8% since January, clearly a strong outperformer compared to the overall index.

Trading in Fimbank plc totalled just over 51,000 shares spread over three deals, which is a hefty volume for a holiday-shortened week.

The share price was volatile throughout the week. An initial plunge was followed by a subsequent increase by Friday, which however failed to nullify the damage. The equity price ended the week 1.05% lower at $0.94.

International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) lost further value last week, with the share price being dragged down 0.66% to close at €0.75. A total of 40,000 shares changed ownership in a single trading session. The slow gradual fall in IHI’s share price over the past four months has seen it lose just over 16% of its value from its high of €0.90 reached back in early August.

Contrary to the above, the bullish bias surrounding Malta International Airport plc (MIA) remained intact, helping the share price settle at a yearly high of €1.65. Last week’s 0.3% improvement adds to the overall year-to-date gains, now totalling a staggering 37.5%.

A total of 36,050 MIA shares were traded last week, mostly on Monday. MIA’s traffic results for November, which were issued last week, showed the number of passenger movements last month were the highest ever for November.

Among the main contributors to the positive results were the strong increase in seat capacity and the Spanish, Italian and French markets, which once again grew remarkably.

Similarly, Go plc’s share price continues to enjoy a gradual yet steady climb. Last week, the price reached a high of €1.92 at which it closed Friday’s session. The volume of trading also seems to be rising encouragingly.

But despite the three-month improvement in Go’s share price, much more is needed to at least cancel the significant losses incurred earlier, particularly between April and June. Indeed, this equity is still well entrenched in the red, having shed nearly 8.6% of its value on a year-to-date basis.

Go announced last week that Forgendo Ltd, the joint venture company between Go plc and Emirates International Telecommunications Malta Ltd, has acquired further shares in Forthnet SA. Forgendo’s shareholding in Forthnet now stands at 40.71%.

HSBC Bank Malta plc erased some of its previous week’s losses and managed a weekly gain of 1.38%. However, conviction appeared lacking as the volume of traded shares barely surpassed the 21,500 mark.

Similarly, trading in Lombard Bank plc and Maltapost plc was minimal, with their share price ending the week unchanged. Plaza Centres plc was the equity that lost most value last week, shedding 4.07% on slight volume.

Global Capital plc made a strong late run last week, as four trades on Friday made its share price soar 19.05% from €1.24 to €1.50. However, this was achieved on scant volume.

As expected, last week, trading in government and local corporate bonds was relatively subdued.

The best performing bond was the 5.6% Global Capital plc euro bond maturing between 2014 and 2016. This bond climbed well over 2% last week.

Benchmark government bond yields last week were fairly unchanged. Similarly, most Malta Government Stocks traded last week saw little or no change in prices, barring the MGS 2030 issue, which fell by well over 1%.

Trading in these stocks was very light, amounting to €1.2 million in value.

Trading in the Treasury Bill market amounted to €4.5m.

This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi, joint managing director of Atlas JMFS Investment Services Ltd, 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. For further information contact Atlas JMFS at 67/3, South Street, Valletta, Tel: 2122 4410 or e-mail jesmond.mizzi@atlasjmfs.com.