BOV completes rebound from Wednesday’s decline
The share price of Bank of Valletta today advanced for the third consecutive session on the stock exchange to complete a rebound from last Wednesday’s 6% plunge. The bank’s equity gained a further 1.1% during this morning’s session (following the 5.2%...
The share price of Bank of Valletta today advanced for the third consecutive session on the stock exchange to complete a rebound from last Wednesday’s 6% plunge. The bank’s equity gained a further 1.1% during this morning’s session (following the 5.2% increase late last week) to regain the €2.235 level across eleven trades totalling just under 13,000 shares.
On the other hand, HSBC Bank Malta plc eased lower for the third successive session with another 0.4% drop back to the €2.67 level on volumes of 22,000 shares. In the financial sector, FIMBank plc also slid 2% lower to close at the US$1.00 level on volumes of 26,000 shares. The trade finance specialist is still awaiting regulatory approval to initiate the take-over process by Burgan Bank in conjunction with United Gulf Bank as approved by shareholders during the Extraordinary General Meeting held in January.
The share price of International Hotel Investments plc eased by 1% from its 2013 high to close at the €0.88 level across four trades totalling 67,693 shares. Similarly, Malita Investments plc and MaltaPost plc closed below their respective highs. Malita dropped back to €0.501 on low volumes of 2,000 shares and the equity of the postal operator’s retreated from its 2-year high of €1.06 to the €1.05 level on a single deal of 15,000 shares.
Meanwhile, a single trade of 1,000 6pm Holdings plc shares was executed at the GBP0.58 level representing a 7.7% jump from last week’s close. The IT Group recently announced a string of new contracts with various trusts and hospitals forming part of the UK’s National Health Service. The recent positive statements helped the equity rally by 87.1% since the start of the year.
The only other two active equities today were Plaza Centres plc and Middlesea Insurance plc which closed the session unchanged at €0.57 (52,000 shares) and €0.895 (2,000 shares) respectively.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index dropped for the second consecutive session with a decline of 0.2% closing the day at just above 1,020 points.
The decline in the local MGS benchmark mirrors last Friday’s rise in Eurozone benchmark yields to a 7-week high of 1.39%. Nonetheless, by this afternoon, yields eased back following comments by a council member of the European Central Bank (ECB) in which he stated that the ECB can revert to negative deposit rates if the Eurozone economy needs further help.
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