The MSE Share Index moved minimally higher to 4,550.124 points (+0.02 per cent) as the gains registered in the share prices of MIA and Mapfre Middlesea outweighed the declines in RS2 and Malta Properties.
Trading volumes advanced to a three-week high as nearly €0.34 million worth of shares changed hands today.
The most actively traded equity was Medserv plc as 108,900 shares for a value of €0.16 million (representing 48.2 per cent of the total value of equities traded today) left the equity at its 2016 low of €1.50.
Three other equities closed the day unchanged. Bank of Valletta plc (10,374 shares) and HSBC Bank Malta plc (13,486 shares) maintained the €2.29 and €1.93 levels respectively. BOV will reveal its 2015/16 full-year financial results on Friday 28 October.
GO plc held on to the €3.22 level on volumes of 15,847 shares.
Malta International Airport plc erased yesterday’s decline as it recaptured the €4.179 level (+1.2 per cent) across 13,857 shares.
Mapfre Middlesea plc rebounded slightly from its fifteen-month low of €2.00 to the €2.011 level on trivial volumes.
Meanwhile, RS2 Software plc dropped to a near one-year low of €1.48 on volumes totalling 8,466 shares. The equity has lost 35.9 per cent since touching an all-time high of €2.308 on 11 March 2016.
Malta Properties Company plc slipped 1.6 per cent to the €0.61 level on shallow volumes.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index extended yesterday’s decline by a further 0.02 per cent to 1,180.313 points. The indicative bid prices quoted by the Central Bank of Malta (CBM) for all Malta Government Stocks (MGSs) with maturities up to 17 years were lower today.
In contrast, the bid prices for the four MGSs having their maturity between 2034 and 2041 were higher. In fact, the bid prices of the 3.0 per cent 2040 I and the 2.4 per cent 2041 I R reached new record highs of 122.60 per cent and 110.88 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the international financial media reported that, during a news conference held yesterday, the President of the European Central Bank Mr Mario Draghi defended the policy of cutting interest rates to record low levels and buying bonds to lift the Eurozone economic recovery. However, Mr Draghi said that record-low interest rates in the eurozone are not a “new normal” and he also acknowledged concerns that the ECB’s ultra-loose accommodative policy is having on the financial sector.
The newly issued 4.25 per cent Gap Group plc 2023 traded for the first time today, with its price gaining 289 basis points to 102.89 per cent.
This article was provided by Rizzo Farrugia Investment Consultants.