Bank of Valletta lost some of its recent gains as the equity shed 1.8% to close at the €2.24 level on total activity of 31,571 shares. The MSE Share Index suffered a 0.3% decline following this drop to 3,354.912 points despite gains in GO and MIA.

GO rebounded from an intra-day low of €2.55 to the €2.595 level representing a 1.4% increase from yesterday’s close. Activity increased to 16,870 shares as investors await developments from Forthnet in Greece on the interest from two potential buyers for the company. Malta International Airport edged 0.2% higher to the €2.36 level on a single trade of 1,400 shares. The company is shortly expected to announce its 2014 traffic results and provide its forecast for 2015.

The other three active equities closed the session unchanged. Activity in HSBC Bank Malta increased to 50,000 shares with the share price maintaining the €2.02 level after touching an intra-day low of €2.00. A single trade of less than 1,000 shares in MaltaPost also left the postal operator’s share price unchanged at the €1.20 level. The company will be holding its Annual General Meeting on January 16.

Crimsonwing plc held on to the €0.86 level as a further 20,000 shares traded today. Shareholders of Crimsonwing have been offered €0.8327 per share by KPMG Investments Malta Limited as it aims to acquire the entire company. The voluntary bid by KPMG closes on 20 January.

On the bond market, the momentum gained earlier this week was interrupted as the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index declined by 0.1% to 1,107.084 points. This reflects the increase in European benchmark yields as a result of better-than-expected November retail sales figures. Nonetheless, as inflation figures are expected to remain low, coupled with the political uncertainty surrounding Greece, European yields remained under the 0.5% level, close to the recent all-time lows.  

Earlier today, the Treasury of Malta announced that the amount of issuance of Malta Government Stocks during 2015 will not exceed €500 million. The Treasury is aiming to spread its issuance programme over 3 to 4 issues with the first issue expected to take place in February 2015. The maturity structure of the 2015 MGS issue programme will be a mix of (i) 5 to 10-year stocks and (ii) stocks with maturities over 15 years. The full details of the stocks on offer and the respective amounts and maturities will be published one to two weeks prior to each offer.

www.rizzofarrugia.com

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