Fresh bids for FIMBank plc shares surfaced during this morning’s trading session on the Stock Exchange helping the share price climb by 11.1 per cent to the $1 level for the first time since July 2010 on volumes of over 74,500 shares.
The uplift in the equity of FIMBank comes in anticipation of the extraordinary general meeting scheduled to be held on January 31 during which shareholders will be asked to approve a number of resolutions in connection with a joint-offer by Burgan Bank and United Gulf Bank.
The two banks, both subsidiaries of the Kuwaiti-based KIPCO Group, plan to take-up a majority stake in the trade finance specialist in a multi-stage process which will also comprise a US$100 million rights if approved at the EGM.
Sharp gains were also registered in the share price of Lombard Bank Malta plc although on significantly lower volumes of 2,000 shares. The bank’s share price surged 7.5 per cent higher to close at the €2 level for first time since November last year. Lombard is set to publish its 2012 results on March 14.
Positive movements were also registered in the equities of the other banks with Bank of Valletta plc edging a further 0.9 per cent higher to regain the €2.22 level (equivalent to €2.46,7 pre-bonus) across 16 trades totalling 61,100 shares.
Similarly, the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc edged 0.7 per cent higher to recapture the €2.72 on low volumes of 2,470 shares. HSBC is scheduled to publish its 2012 figures on March 4.
Elsewhere in the local equity market, the share price of MaltaPost plc rose by 2c for the third consecutive session to close at a new 11-month high of 98c across volumes of almost 24,000 shares.
Last year’s new entrant, Malita Investments plc, inched minimally higher to close at an all-time high of 52c1 on a single trade of 8,000 shares.
On the other hand, the share price of Crimsonwing plc eased slightly lower to close at the 54c9 level on high volumes of 133,000 shares.
Similarly, Malta International Airport plc retreated by 1.1 per cent to the €1.78 level across a single deal of 8,000 shares.
The airport operator is shortly expected to publish the traffic results for 2012 which should show the third consecutive annual passenger record. MIA will probably also issue its forecast for 2013.
No change was registered in the share price of GO plc as the equity of the quad-play telecoms operator ended this morning’s session at its almost 17-month high of €1.25 across 2,500 shares. Likewise, RS2 Software plc shares held on to the all-time high of 85c across three deals totalling 26,000 shares.
On the bond market, the Central Bank of Malta Stockbroker raised its bid prices for local government paper for the ninth consecutive session despite a downgrade of Malta’s credit rating by S&P from ‘A-‘ to ‘BBB+’.
The further increase in the Central Bank’s bid prices led the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index to close at yet another new 27-month high of 1,010.342 points in line with the trend in the benchmark 10-year German Bund yield which dropped below the 1.5 per cent level for the first time this week.
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