The Malta Stock Exchange index gained another seven points, or 0.2 per cent yesterday, to end at the 3,317.814 level.

Shares in the local telecommunications provider, Go plc, put in the day’s best showing by adding 4c, or 3.1 per cent, to end at €1.340 in four deals for a total of 2,365 shares.

Bank of Valletta plc shares added 1c, or 0.4 per cent, and closed at €2.820 in 10 deals for a total of 13,013 shares.

FIMBank plc, meanwhile, was the day’s heaviest traded equity, witnessing 150,000 shares change hands across five deals. The shares of the specialty bank closed unchanged at €0.840.

Also trading in the day was the equity of Malta International Airport plc, which also ended the day unchanged. Six deals for a total of 12,370 shares saw the local airport operator’s shares round out trading at €1.680.

The corporate bond market finished mostly lower again yesterday as four of the seven bonds to trade in the session closed lower while just a single issue ended the day higher. The 4.8% Bank of Valletta Plc Sub € 2020 bond suffered the biggest loss, dropping €0.50, or 0.5 per cent, to close at par, or €100.000 in four deals for a total of €16,300 nominal. The 4.25% FIMBank plc USD 2013 bond managed to climb €0.240, or 0.2 per cent higher, to close at €99.990 in five deals across a total of €53,000 nominal. Last Wednesday, the corporate bond market saw six of the 11 issues to trade ending lower, while three finished higher.

Weekly UK economic review

In its May inflation report, the Bank of England revised its growth forecasts for the UK’s economy downward while raising its inflation projections for 2011 and 2012. The BoE projected Gross Domestic Product growth of 1.9 per cent for 2011 and 2.5 per cent in 2012 while it expects Consumer Price Index inflation to peak at 5.0% by year end 2011, before reverting back, yet remaining above its 2.0% target till the end of 2012. The Central Bank’s remarks were considered a confirmation of market expectations that a rate hike is expected to occur later this year.

British industrial output rose far les than expected in March, dampening hopes that the UK economy may have performed better in the last month of the first quarter of 2011 than the initial two months. Production rose 0.3 per cent for March, less than half the 0.8 per cent expected by economists, after dropping 1.2 per cent in February. March’s figure means that industrial production growth in the sector for the first quarter came in at just 0.2 per cent, compared with an estimate of 0.4 per cent in the initial reading of GDP.

British retail sales, meanwhile, surged at their fastest pace in five years as the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual like-for-like sales figure registered a 5.2 per cent increase for the month of April, doubling analysts’ expectations of 2.5 per cent growth. Last months figure was the biggest gain since April 2006.

Yet the figure has done little to change the perception among market participants that the British economy is still undergoing a choppy recovery.

This article has been prepared by Bank of Valletta p.l.c. (the Bank), which is licensed to conduct investment services business by the MFSA, for your general information only. This information is not a solicitation or offer by the Bank to acquire or sell securities. Nor does it constitute any form of advice by the Bank. Appropriate advice should be obtained before making any such decision. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance and the value of your investments may fall or rise.