The MSE Share Index edged 1.3% higher today to exceed the 3,000-points level. On the back of a 5.9% rise in the share price of International Hotel Investments plc and smaller gains across four other equities, the local equity benchmark closed at 3,027.324 points, the highest level since February 6.
The share price of International Hotel Investments plc advanced by 5.9% to a 14-month high of 90c on volumes of just under 60,000 shares. IHI will be convening its annual general meeting tomorrow.
The other positive performers of the day were Bank of Valletta plc, GO plc, Medserv plc and Lombard Bank Malta plc. Bank of Valletta plc continued to recover from its low of €2.05 of last Monday with the share price advancing by 1% today to €2.08 on activity of 8,421 shares.
GO plc's equity also continued to recover strongly from its all-time low of 70c and gained a further 1% to 89c9 on volumes of 5,600 shares. The share price of Lombard Bank Malta plc edged 0.4% higher from yesterday's 76-month low of €2.25 as a single trade took place today of 450 shares at €2.26.
On the other hand, the equity of Lombard's subsidiary, MaltaPost plc, was the worst performer as the share price retreated by 3.2% to 92c on a single trade of 5,000 trades.
The postal operator recently published its half-year results revealing a significant drop in profitability to €0.5 million mainly due to a change in tariffs by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) which led to a considerable increase in direct mail costs.
The other negative performer was HSBC Bank Malta plc which closed minimally lower at €2.49,9 after recovering from an intra-day 37-month low of €2.48.
On the local bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged marginally higher to 989.406 points as the Central Bank of Malta adjusted the bid prices upwards for the medium and long dated paper.
Internationally, Eurozone 10-year yields touched a new all-time low of 1.317% earlier on today.
This morning the European Central Bank rejected the possibility that Spain will recapitalise Bankia bank through ECB funds.
Borrowings costs in Spain and Italy continued to rise following this news and the results of an Italian bond auction this morning. Spanish 10-year bond yields hit a fresh euro-era high of 6.71% with Italy's yields at 6.13%.
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