The MSE Share Index ended this morning’s session minimally lower at 3,575.083 points mainly due to the 0.4% drop in the share price of Bank of Valletta plc back to the €2.60 level across fourteen deals totalling 31,269 shares. The Bank yesterday held its 40th Annual General Meeting during which shareholders approved all the items on the agenda including the final gross dividend of €0.13 per share which was paid today.
Furthermore, approval was also obtained for the 1 for 10 bonus issue with shareholders as at the close of trading on 14 January being eligible to the bonus shares. Six Directors were elected out of the eleven nominees. The Board of BOV is now composed of: John Cassar White (Chairman), Joseph Borg, Roberto Cassata, Mario Grima, Taddeo Scerri, Paul Testaferrata Moroni Viani, George Wells, Franco Xuereb and Joseph M Zrinzo.
The share price of Malta International Airport plc eased minimally lower to €2.10 on a small trade of 150 shares.
On the other hand, the equity of GO plc recovered from an intra-day low of €1.73 to touch a new 2013 high of €1.76 before easing minimally lower to end the session with a gain of 0.2% at the €1.759 level on volumes of 10,700 shares.
The share price of MIDI plc advanced by 3.7% to €0.28 on low volumes of 1,500 shares. Likewise, in the property sector, Malita Investments plc edged 1% higher to regain the €0.53 level on volumes of 9,500 shares.
The only other active equity, RS2 Software plc ended the session unchanged at the €2.28 level across three deals totalling 9,136 shares.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index slipped a further 0.1% lower to 1,020.069 points as Eurozone yields reached a 2-week high of 1.88%. Yields continued to rise today following the recent decision by the US Federal Reserve to reduce its asset purchase programme by USD10 billion to USD75 billion a month given the recent improvements in the North American economy.
Today marked the end of this year’s last full trading week. The remaining trading sessions of 2013 will take place on Monday 23 December, Friday 27 December and Monday 30 December. Trading in the New Year will resume as from Friday 3 January 2014.
We would like to take this opportunity to convey our best wishes for this festive season.
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