The MSE Share Index posted its third consecutive daily negative performance today as it eased by a further 0.22 per cent to 4,433.079 points – the lowest level since mid-January 2016. Trading activity was spread across eight shares, with two closing in the red (BOV & RS2), another two shares registering gains (Malita & MIA) whilst four equities traded unchanged.
Trading activity declined notably as just under €0.19 million worth of shares changed hands today. Week-on-week, the local equity index registered a decline of 0.89 per cent.
Despite recovering from an intra-day low of €3.40 (-2.6 per cent ), the equity of RS2 Software plc still closed the day in negative territory at the €3.465 level – representing a retreat of 0.7 per cent from yesterday’s closing price. A total of 18,577 shares changed hands today. RS2 is due to hold its AGM on 23 June during which, and amongst other resolutions, shareholders will be asked to consider and approve a 5 for 3 share split (cut-off date: 30 June).
Bank of Valletta plc dropped by 0.8 per cent back to the €2.22 level across 9,224 shares.
In contrast, four deals totalling 10,606 shares left the equity of HSBC Bank Malta plc unchanged at the €1.60 level. The Bank’s Board of Directors’ meeting for the approval of the interim financial results has been rescheduled to 3 August 2016. During the same meeting, the Directors will also consider the declaration of an interim dividend.
Within the same segment, FIMBank plc maintained its three-week low of USD0.82 across 13,410 shares.
Similarly, GO plc (15,600 shares) and International Hotel Investments plc (18,156 shares) closed flat at €2.90 and €0.63 respectively. On Wednesday, GO replicated an announcement issued by Tunisie Télécom which confirmed its intention to proceed with a voluntary offer to all shareholders of GO at the price of €2.87 per share. Tunisie Télécom revealed that it intends maintaining GO’s current status as a publicly listed company with its shares listed on the Malta Stock Exchange.
The Chairman and CEO of Tunisie Télécom commented that the acquisition of GO presents an opportunity to create a strong trans-Mediterranean telecoms partnership which will support GO’s growth opportunities both locally and internationally.
Also among the large companies, Malta International Airport plc rebounded by 0.2 per cent from its four-month low of €4.29 to the €4.30 level across shallow volumes totalling 1,400 shares. Early this afternoon, the airport operator published the May traffic results revealing a further 7.8 per cent increase in passenger movements to a record (for the month of May) of 476,575 – representing the 50th consecutive month of passenger growth. Seat capacity during the period increased by 4.9 per cent (reflecting the launch of new routes and increased frequencies) whilst the seat load factor rose to 81.4 per cent.
Overall, during the first five months of the year, MIA handled a record of 1.69 million passenger movements – an increase of 10.8 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
Malita Investments plc recaptured the €0.90 level (+1.1 per cent ) across 15,610 shares.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index erased most of yesterday’s decline as it rebounded by 0.14 per cent to 1,149.934 points. Euro zone government bond yields declined today, reflecting disappointing retail sales data in the single currency block for the month of April. Indeed, despite showing a year-on-year increase of 1.4 per cent , this came well below the 2.1 per cent figure expected by economists.
The same data also showed that retail sales in Europe’s largest economy – Germany – fell by 0.6 per cent year-on-year. The benchmark 10-year German Bund yield slipped from a high of 0.16 per cent yesterday to 0.10 per cent . In the afternoon, euro zone government bond yields continued to lose ground after a disappointing US jobs data report. In fact, the 10-year Bund hit a year-to-date low of 0.07 per cent .