The share index trended higher for the third consecutive session as it gained a further 0.4% today to reach a fresh nine-year high of 4,763.682 points.

During this morning’s session, all actively traded equities closed in positive territory except for Simonds Farsons Cisk which maintained the €7.20 level on trivial volumes.

Week-on-week, the local equity index posted its fourth consecutive weekly gain as it advanced by a further 0.33% largely on the back of the weekly increases in the share prices of HSBC (+2%), MIA (+1%) and BOV (+0.9%).

The most actively traded equity today was Bank of Valletta which recaptured its nine-year high of €2.21 (+0.5%) across 42,247 shares.

Also in the retail banking sector, HSBC recorded a new three-year high of €2.09,9 (+1.2%) before retreating to close at the €2.09 level (+0.7%) on volumes of 33,706 shares.

Shareholders as at March 10 will be eligible to receive a final net dividend of 2c7 per share subject to shareholders’ approval during an annual general meeting scheduled to be held on April 13.

Two deals of 7,380 shares lifted the equity of Lombard Bank 0.8% higher to a fresh one-year high of €2.39 ahead of the bank’s financial results publication on March 9.

Malta International Airport reversed most of yesterday’s decline as it rebounded by 0.5% to the €4.24 level across 6,350 shares.

Shareholders as at April 6 will be eligible to receive a final net dividend of 7c per share subject to shareholders’ approval during an annual general meeting scheduled to be held on May 10.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Ryanair launched its largest ever Malta winter schedule for 2017/18 consisting of new routes and additional flights to existing destinations.

Medserv gained 1.6% to the €1.62,5 level across 17,165 shares. Last Monday, the company announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Mets was awarded the largest contract ever won by the Medserv Group.

On the other hand, Medserv was not successful in its first bid to penetrate the Trinidad market. Medserv is due to publish its 2016 financial results on April 5.

Malta Properties Company and Santumas Shareholdings also closed this morning’s session in positive territory at 54c9 (+5.2%) and €1.65 (+6.5%) respectively across shallow volumes.

On the bond market, the RF MGS Index posted a three-day negative streak as it fell by a further 0.05% to a five-day low of 1,126.603 points.

Euro zone sovereign yields remained close to their recent highs as the result of fresh surveys showed that euro zone private sector business activity rose at its quickest pace in nearly six years in February, accelerating across all major economies with job creation reaching its fastest rate in almost a decade.

Furthermore, whilst retail sales in the single currency area fell for the third consecutive month in January (-0.1%), year-on-year they grew by an encouraging 1.2%.

www.rizzofarrugia.com

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