The share index retreated for the second consecutive session with a further 0.1 per cent drop to 3,307.829 points on further selling pressure across the shares of HSBC and a 3.1 per cent decline in the share price of Go.
The bank’s equity slipped 0.5 per cent lower to the €1.96 level across six deals totalling 54,446 shares. The banking industry is being impacted by stricter regulation and a challenging environment due to the low interest rate scenario.
Similarly, Go continued to retreat from its six-year high with a further 3.1 per cent drop back to the €2.52 level albeit on low volumes of 4,800 shares.
On the other hand, the share price of International Hotel Investments rebounded from near its all-time lows for the second time this week with a further 2.8 per cent rise to regain the 56c level across 11,000 shares.
MaltaPost advanced by 0.9 per cent to €1.18 on a single trade of just over 2,000 shares. The postal operator is expected to publish its preliminary full-year results in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta traded unchanged at the €2.25 level across 10 deals totalling 13,210 shares. The shares of BOV will trade with the entitlement to the final gross dividend of 9c25 per share until today week.
Likewise, the equity of Malta International Airport ended the session unchanged at the €2.33 level after recovering from an intra-day low of €2.30 on volumes of 14,912 shares.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index eased marginally lower to 1,091.087 points, as benchmark Bund yields regained the 0.83 per cent level as markets were sceptical whether the European Central Bank (ECB) would announce further stimulus measures.
In fact, as expected, this afternoon the ECB announced that it decided to hold its reference interest rate unchanged at the historically low of 0.05 per cent and fell short of announcing further stimulus measures.
Locally, PTL Holdings yesterday issued a formal notice with respect to a new €36 million unsecured bond carrying a coupon of 5.1 per cent and maturing in 2024.
PTL Holding has three main subsidiaries, namely: SAD (the largest Apple distributor in Poland), APCO (provides electronic payments transaction processing services under the brand name APCOPAY and supplies ATMs, POS terminals, plastic cards as well as other cash-handling equipment) and PTL (a multi-branded IT solutions provider).
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