In contrast to this week’s previous trading session, the share index trended in positive territory during the final session of this shortened week.

The local equity benchmark gained 0.8 per cent to 4,426.375 points on the back of increases in the share prices of HSBC, RS2 and Medserv which offset the decline in BOV. Nonetheless, over the week, the share index still registered a 0.8 per cent drop largely reflecting the weekly declines in RS2 and FIMBank.

After trending lower during the previous six trading sessions, new bids emerged during this morning’s trading to lift the share price of RS2 Software by 9.3 per cent to the €1.64 level from its 10-month low of €1.50 across a total of 86,823 shares.

Similarly, following the recent sharp decline, the equity of Medserv plc rebounded by 4.6 per cent today to recapture the €1.57 level albeit on lower volumes of 5,317 shares.

HSBC also trended in positive territory today with a 0.9 per cent increase to regain the €1.60 level across three deals totalling 20,379 shares.

On the other hand, the only negative performing equity today was Bank of Valletta as the bank’s equity slipped 0.4 per cent back to the €2.25 level across nine deals totalling 33,057 shares.

On the bond market, the RF MGS Index slipped back into negative territory with a 0.3 per cent drop to 1,168.004 points (compared to Wednesday’s 16-month high of 1,171.183 points) as Eurozone yields strongly rebounded.

This follows the unexpected decision by the European Central Bank not to change anything from its current expansionary monetary policy measures in spite of the weak data published earlier this week.

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