Various equities trended higher during this morning’s sessions to lift the share index one per cent higher (the fourth positive session this week) to a new seven-and-a-half year high of 4,435.974 points.
Trading volumes also increased significantly as just over €440,000 worth of shares changed hands. The local equity benchmark ended the week 2.2 per cent higher as most the active equities trended in positive territory.
Once again, Medserv was the best performer as the equity of the oil and gas logistics specialist advanced by 4.9 per cent to €2.15 across 25,680 shares.
Last Friday, the company declared a net interim dividend of 8c per share and a bonus share issue of four new shares for every five shares held.
Shareholders as at close of trading on October 28 are eligible to both the cash dividend and the bonus shares. Medserv is expected to hold an extraordinary general meeting on or around December 1.
The equity of International Hotel Investments closed 3.2 per cent higher at the 84c6 level on 33,000 shares respectively.
Last week, the IHI Group published its interim directors’ statement confirming that the positive trends highlighted in the 2015 interim financial statements persisted during the third quarter of the year and expectations for the rest of the financial year remain buoyant.
In contrast to the declines registered during the previous two sessions, GO’s share price trended 3.2 per cent higher at the €3.20 level on 43,483 shares.
The equity of HSBC also performed positively as it edged 1.4 per cent higher to regain the €1.85 level across 14,340 shares.
Among the large equities by market capitalisation, the equity of Malta International Airport closed today’s session 0.5 per cent higher at the €3.90 level across 20,967 shares.
Yesterday evening, the airport operator published its October traffic results revealing a 10.2 per cent increase in passenger movements to 464,557 passengers – the greatest monthly percentage increase in 2015 – on the back of an 11.4 per cent rise in seat capacity over the corresponding period last year.
During the first 10 months of 2015, MIA registered a 7.4 per cent increase in passenger movements to 4.1 million when compared to the same period last year, as both seat capacity as well as the seat load factor increased materially.
The other positive performer of the day was Tigne’ Mall as the equity also moved 0.5 per cent higher to reach a new all-time high of 95c5 on 53,400 shares.
The property company yesterday issued its interim directors’ statement explaining that profitability during the first three quarters of the year increased when compared to the corresponding period last year.
The company is also anticipating a positive performance for the final quarter of the financial year.
Meanwhile, four equities traded unchanged. The equity of Bank of Valletta remained flat at the €2.42 level across 25,557 shares to end the week 0.8 per cent lower despite last week’s publication of the bank’s full-year financial results in which it revealed a 13.3 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to €117.9 million.
Furthermore, subject to shareholders’ approval at the next annual general meeting to be held on December 17, a final net dividend of 5c525 per share is payable on the December 18 to those shareholders as at close of trading next Friday.
Moreover, a bonus share issue of one new share for every 12 shares, also subject to shareholders’ approval, will also be distributed to those shareholders as at close of trading on January 13, 2016.
Lombard Bank (€2.30) and its postal subsidiary MaltaPost (€1.99), together with Grand Harbour Marina (€1), also closed this morning session unchanged on shallow volumes.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index eased by a further 0.18 per cent to 1,133.004 points although the benchmark 10-year Bund yield remained practically unchanged at the 0.6 per cent level this morning.
This afternoon, yields continued to edge higher to reach a seven-week high of 0.66 per cent following the publication of upbeat US jobs data as wage growth accelerated and the US unemployment rate fell to five per cent thereby increasing the possibility of a US rate hike in December.
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