Bank of Valletta plc's share price suffered a decline of a further 2.3 per cent today on increased volumes amounting to over 58,000 shares.

After opening the day slightly lower at the €2.55 level, a sudden bout of further selling pressure mid-way during the session satisfied all outstanding bids at the €2.50 level. BOV's equity was the worst performer with a weekly drop of 3.5 per cent lower mainly reflecting the fresh wave of mis-selling accusations against the Bank which are being investigated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).

HSBC Bank Malta plc also closed the day in negative territory on lack of further support at the €2.73 level. HSBC's share price dropped by 1.1 per cent to the €2.70 level to close the week unchanged.

This morning's downturn in the two large banking equities led to a 0.8 per cent drop in the MSE Share Index to 3,133.498 points. However the local equity benchmark still ended the week 0.6 per cent higher due to yesterday's 9.6 per cent jump in the share price of International Hotel Investments plc - the only positive performer this week.

GO plc's share price traded at a new all-time low of €1.19 this morning before recovering to close the day unchanged at €1.20.

Go's equity slumped 38 per cent since the start of the year on increasing concerning surrounding Forthnet's widening losses.

On the bond market, Eurozone yields continued to recover following yesterday's announcement by the European Central Bank (ECB) to provide additional US Dollar funding to European banks in a co-ordinated action with the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve.

Yields climbed for the fourth successive session to reach the 1.9 per cent level in contrast to the all-time low of 1.706 per cent registered last Monday.

As a result the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index on Monday reached a 10-month high of 998.762 points but as Eurozone yields recovered the local MGS benchmark slid 0.9 per cent lower to 989.911 points.

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