The highlight across the Maltese capital market today was the upturn across the prices of several Malta Government Stocks.
The RF MGS Index moved higher for the fourth consecutive day as it jumped by 0.39 per cent (the steepest daily uplift in nearly nine months) to a two-week high of 1,174.746 points.
In particular, the indicative bid price quoted by the Central Bank of Malta (CBM) for the 2.50 per cent MGS 2036 (I) soared by 364 basis points to an all-time high of 112.91 per cent. Furthermore, the bid prices for four other long-dated MGS’s also reached fresh highs today.
The upward movements in the CBM bid prices for MGS’s reflect the credit rating upgrade of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) for Malta. Last Friday S&P announced that it upgraded Malta’s rating to ‘A-‘ with a stable outlook from ‘BBB+’.
Meanwhile, eurozone sovereign yields continued to edge higher today with the 10-year benchmark German Bund yield reaching a near four-month high of 0.103 per cent (from 0.044 per cent last Friday), possibly due to brighter euro zone inflationary prospects.
The latest data issued today showed that consumer price inflation in the single currency area hit 0.4 per cent in September year-on-year – the highest level since 2014 – from 0.2 per cent in August.
However, in a strange turn of events, the Central Bank of Malta revised the indicative prices sharply downwards for a number of the MGS’s including the 2.50 per cent MGS 2036 (I). The revised price was adjusted downwards to 109.21 per cent from 112.91 per cent this morning.
This afternoon, the Treasury announced that applications received from retail investors for the recently issued 1.5 per cent MGS 2022 (IV) F.I. and 2.1 per cent MGS 2039 (I) exceeded the maximum amount that can be issued even after the exercising of the overallotment option. The retail offer is closed and the auction has therefore been cancelled.
Meanwhile, across the equity market, following the gains registered last Thursday and Friday, the MSE Share Index retreated by 0.16 per cent to 4,435.045 points reflecting the declines in the share prices of MaltaPost, Medserv and RS2. Meanwhile, another four equities closed flat.
The most actively traded equity today was Medserv plc which slipped 2.0 per cent to a six-week low of €1.50 across 35,000 shares. Recently, Medserv revealed that it was unsuccessful in its bid for a contract relating to the provision of services offshore Cyprus to an IOC. In the meantime, Medserv continues to provide shore base services to ENI from its base in Larnaca.
RS2 Software plc failed to hold on to an intra-day high of €1.59 (+2.6 per cent) as it dropped by 1.3 per cent to the €1.53 level across 18,289 shares.
MaltaPost plc shed 2.6 per cent to a three-month low of €1.801 on low volumes.
In the banking sector, BOV, HSBC and FIMBank all closed unchanged. Bank of Valletta plc maintained the €2.29 level after hitting an intra-day low of €2.269 (-0.9 per cent). A total of 22,417 shares traded today. The market is now awaiting the publication of BOV’s financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2016 by the end of this month.
HSBC Bank Malta plc maintained its six-month high of €1.70 across 14,100 shares whilst three deals totalling 20,000 shares left the equity of FIMBank plc at the USD0.88 level.
Malta Properties Company plc briefly traded at the €0.58 level (+2.5 per cent) before closing unchanged at €0.566. A total of 50,500 shares changed hands today.
This article is provided by Rizzo Farrugia investment consultants.