The share index edged 0.1 per cent higher to 3,818.565 points as the gains in GO, RS2, MaltaPost and Farsons offset the losses in four other equities.

GO rallied by 3.5 per cent to close at a seven-year high of €3 on total activity amounting to 18,850 shares.

Yesterday afternoon, the telecoms group issued a company announcement indicating that the board has been exploring options that would maximise shareholders’ value in relation to the portfolio of property owned by its wholly-owned subsidiary – Malta Properties Company Limited.

The subsidiary owns eleven properties valued at €50 million. GO indicated that one of the options which will be presented to shareholders for their approval is the potential spin-off of the said subsidiary on a pro-rata basis to the shareholders of GO.

MaltaPost advanced by two per cent to a new record high of €1.45 albeit on shallow volumes of 2,995 shares. On Friday, the postal operator will be publishing its interim results as at March 31.

Similarly, RS2 Software climbed by 2.6 per cent to a fresh all-time high of €3.20 on a single deal of 3,000 shares. Today was the last day for investors to be entitled to the final net dividend of 4c4 per share. This dividend will be paid on  June 15 after approval at the annual general meeting.

Meanwhile Simonds Farsons Cisk edged up by 0.7 per cent also to a new high of €3.52,5 on a single deal of 1,000 shares.

On the other hand, Bank of Valletta erased some of its recent gains as the equity dropped 1.3 per cent to the €2.31 level on activity totalling 54,147 shares. The interim gross dividend of 3c9 per share (net: 2c54) is payable to all shareholders as at close of trading on May 8.

The share price of Malta International Airport closed 0.3 per cent lower at €3.48 on shallow volumes of just over 3,000 shares despite yesterday’s announcement of the positive traffic results for April.

The company revealed that it was yet another record month with 392,676 passenger movements, representing an increase of 4.2 per cent over the same month of last year.

This was due to an increase of 4.1 per cent in seat capacity. The airport operator reported that the German and the Italian markets were the largest contributors to passenger growth (11.8 per cent and 13.9 per cent respectively), while the British market shrank by 3.1 per cent.

The £-denominated equity of 6PM Holdings slipped by 1.8 per cent to 75p across four trades totalling 11,500 shares. Meanwhile, a single deal in Lombard Bank Malta of 600 shares pushed the bank’s share price down to €1.89 (-0.5 per cent).

Also in the banking sector, HSBC and FIMBank ended the session unchanged at €1.93 and 45cUS respectively on encouraging volumes.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index continued to slip and dropped by another 0.6 per cent to 1,150.118 points as benchmark European yields continued to trend higher. The German 10-year yield hit a 2015 high of just under 0.6 per cent - the yield has more than tripled in a week and risen 10-fold in just three weeks. This was reflected on the local bond market with the price of the three per cent MGS 2040 declining by a further 154 bp to 112.82 per cent.

www.rizzofarrugia.com

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