For the sixth time in the last seven trading sessions, the MSE Share Index traded higher to reach a new seven-week high of 3,211.984 points.

Following yesterday’s 2.6 per cent jump, the share price of Bank of Valletta plc gained a further 0.8 per cent at €2.41,9 across six trades totalling just over 12,200 shares.

On Wednesday, BOV held its annual general meeting during which shareholders approved all the items on the agenda including the final gross dividend of 13c per share as well as the one for nine bonus issue.

The cut-off date for the bonus issue is January 14.

Sustained demand for GO plc helps the share price inch closer to its 2012 high of €1.20 on a 0.4 per cent increase to €1.18 across three trades totalling 5,000 shares.

In the meantime, investors are still waiting for a decision on whether the company will participate in the upcoming €30 million rights issue of Forthnet.

On their part, GO’s directors declared that a decision will only be taken once the related prospectus is issued.

Similarly, RS2 Software plc maintained its recent uplift with a further 2.1 per cent increase to a new 46-month high of 74c on a single trade of 7,000 shares.

Malta International Airport plc and 6pm Holdings plc recovered this week’s earlier declines. The airport operator edged 0.3 per cent higher to regain the €1.80 level on low volumes of 1,000 shares. Similarly, 6pm shares moved 3.3 per cent up to close at the £0.31 level across 11,000 shares.

Meanwhile, Crimsonwing plc held on to its four-year high as a further 15,000 shares changed hands at the 49c level.

Another four equities, including HSBC Bank Malta plc and Lombard Bank Malta plc, ended this morning’s session unchanged on low volumes.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index moved 0.1 per cent higher to a new 25-month record of 1,004.099 points in line with the continued retreat in German Bund yields from last Wednesday’s three-week high of 1.46 per cent to just above the 1.4 per cent level.

In turn, this reflects the fading hopes that a deal on the US budget, which is necessary to avoid a fiscal cliff, will be reached by the end of the year. In the absence of such an agreement, a combined $600 billion of spending cuts and tax increases will automatically come into effect on January 1 and potentially push the American economy into recession.

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