Trading activity in the equity market dropped to a two-week low today of €77,134 with the MSE Share Index retreating for the second consecutive session with a 0.2 per cent drop to 3,509.628 points.

Today’s decline was mainly due to the 0.8 per cent drop in the share price of Bank of Valletta plc to €2.35 on low volumes of 3,786 shares. The bank is scheduled to publish its interim results on Friday.

The equity of RS2 Software plc also performed negatively after the company published its 2013 full-year results yesterday evening.

RS2 reported a 35.1 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to €4.26 million on the back of a number of licence sales which carry a higher margin as well as the added contribution from the newly launched managed services.

The directors recommended a net dividend of 2c35 and a one for 17 bonus issue to all shareholders as at the close of trading on May 7.

Fresh offers entered the market today sending the share price to an intra-day low of €2.28 before only partially recovering to end the session at the €2.33 level which still represents a 3.6 per cent drop from the previous closing price. A total of 8,974 shares changed hands today.

The only other negative performing equity was Middlesea Insurance plc with a 1.1 per cent drop back to the 90c level on volumes of 4,000 shares.

On the other hand, the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc advanced by 0.9 per cent to regain the €2.38 level on volumes of 10,420 shares.

Tomorrow is the last day the equity trades with the entitlement to the one for nine bonus issue. The equity turns ex-dividend as from Friday.

6pm Holdings plc also performed positively with the equity edging 0.7 per cent higher to 75p5 on a small trade of 816 shares.

Meanwhile no change was registered in the share price of Malta International Airport plc at the €2.24 level on a single trade of 4,100 shares.

Likewise, MaltaPost plc held on to the €1.02 level on a deal of 2,269 shares and its parent company, Lombard Bank Malta plc, traded unchanged at the €1.68 level across 4,080 shares.

There was no reaction to the publication of the 2013 results by International Hotel Investments plc this morning as the equity remained inactive. The IHI Group reported a 26.2 per cent improvement in EBITDA to €34.98 million as all its fully-owned properties (apart from the hotel in Lisbon) reported higher revenues.

Nonetheless, the EBITDA figure was mainly wiped out by the depreciation and finance costs leading to a break even position.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged minimally higher to 1,032.997 points in line with the marginal drop in Eurozone yields to 1.521 per cent.

www.rizzofarrugia.com

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