In the sovereign debt market, strong turnover was recorded, up threefold to €20.2 million. All but one of the 25 traded stocks registered losses, with longer-dated issuances falling during the week by a larger magnitude. In fact, stocks maturing from 2028 onwards suffered declines of between 2.5 and 5.2 per cent.

Most of the decline was recorded towards the end of the week, mirroring the selloff across the broader European and global debt market, as investors switch­ed appetite to the more volatile equity asset class.

The strongest drop was recorded in the 25-year maturing issue, the 2.4 per cent MGS 2041, which fell by 5.2 per cent to €105.26. Meanwhile, the recently issued 2.1 per cent MGS 2039 (I) r, which started trading last Wed­nesday, ticked one per cent higher at €103.50, retreating from an intra-week high of €107.01.

The Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) index rebounded from the previous week’s 0.72 per cent decline, following advances in the shares of Bank of Valletta plc (BOV), HSBC Bank Malta plc, Mapfre Middlesea plc, and to a lesser extent, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc (SFC) and GO plc. The index registered a week-on-week gain of 0.87 per cent, to close at 4,557.203 points.

Turnover in the more volatile equity market amounted to €1.75 million – spread over 14 securities, of which five gained ground, six fell out of favour, while three closed unchanged.

In the financial services sector, shares of Mapfre Middlesea plc were second to none, rising by a staggering 10.3 per cent to a four-and-a-half month high of €2.25, after witnessed only three transactions of just 8,942 shares.

In the banking sector, HSBC shares recouped some of their lost ground as seven deals of 19,163 shares lifted the equity’s price by 2.8 per cent to €1.85, on relatively low turnover.

Meanwhile, shares of BOV continued to trend higher, rising 1.1 per cent after the highest turnover for the week, representing 43.5 per cent of total trading value, as 326,981 shares changed hands. The banking equity’s price closed at a nine-year high of €2.334 after failing to sustain a slightly higher price of €2.339 reached in intra-day trading last Friday.

Trading in the opposite direction were shares of Lombard Bank Malta plc, down by 3.6 per cent as a single deal of 1,626 shares was struck.

Also in the red were shares of Fimbank plc, as seven deals of 73,200 shares dragged the banking equity’s price down by 0.6 per cent to $0.89 – having recouped ground from an intra-week low of $0.853.

In the telecommunications sector, GO plc shares resumed their upward trend, registering a one per cent advancement to €3,25, after a total turnover of €87,400.

The other gainer for the week was SFC, whose share price appreciated by 1.5 per cent, or €0.10, to close at €6.60. The equity was active in the second highest turnover for the week, worth €528,530.

In the IT service sector, shares of RS2 Software plc lost some of their previous week’s 5.3 per cent gain, following 13 deals of 32,650 shares – pulling down the company’s share price by 1.9 per cent to €1.55.

Last week, Malta International Airport plc (MIA) announced a 10.4 per cent growth in passenger movements in October compar­ed to the same month last year. Moreover, during the summer period, a year-on-year growth of 6.3 per cent was recorded in 2016. Despite the strong im­prove­ment in passenger traffic, MIA shares failed to register a gain and fell by 0.5 per cent to €4.08 as 35,646 shares changed hands in 18 transactions.

International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) shares extended their previous week’s decline, falling by 1.4 per cent to €0.65, following four deals of 17,471 shares. Last Friday, the company announced that it will be issuing a new unsecured bond issue of €40 million maturing in 2026 to replace two existing issues – the 6.25 per cent IHI plc 2017-2020 and the 6.5 per cent IHG plc 2017-2020 issues – redeeming on April 9, 2017, and on July 1, 2017, respectively. Preference will be granted to existing bondholders with the settlement date being on November 17 and the cut-off date being on November 15. More information will be issued following the necessary approval by the listing authority.

Likewise, Medserv plc shares retreated by 1.3 per cent to €1.48 over a total trading value of €45,512.

Meanwhile, no change in price was recorded in shares of Malita Investments plc, Malta Properties Company plc, and Loqus Holdings plc – all of which were active on thin volume.

In the corporate bond market, 34 issues were active in a total trading value of €1.04 million – of which nine closed in the black, 10 in the red, while 15 did not register any movement. The recently listed five per cent Dizz Finance plc unsecured € 2026 issue locked a 0.9 per cent gain to close at €102.95, whereas the 4.8 per cent Mediterranean Maritime Hub Finance plc unsecured € 2026 issuance is now trading close to its par value at €100.50, having declined by 1.5 per cent.

This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi, managing director of Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors Ltd, does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. The company is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA and a member of the Malta Stock Exchange and a member of the Atlas Group. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned in this article. For further information, contact Jesmond Mizzi at 1/2, St Joseph High Street, Ħamrun, or on Tel. 2122 4410 or e-mail jesmond.mizzi@jesmondmizzi.com.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.