The MSE Equity Price Index advanced for the fourth consecutive day as it added a further 0.27% to 4,373.402 points.
Trading activity was spread across eight shares – three trended higher, anther three closed the day unchanged, while Farsons and Medserv drifted lower.
During the past five days, the local equity index lost 0.67% as the gains registered since Tuesday were not enough to outweigh the significant drop suffered on Monday.
Nearly 66% of Friday's trading activity took place in the equity of Bank of Valletta plc which climbed by 1.1% to the €1.77 level on 10 deals totalling 87,259 shares. On Thursday, BOV announced that the scrip dividend attribution price relating to the recently declared net dividend of €0.052 per share has been established at €1.667. This was calculated using the average of the three trade weighted average prices based on the trading which took place on 9, 10, and 11 April 2018, discounted by 5%.
Within the same sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc added 0.6% to the €1.71 level across 9,205 shares. During the Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, the bank’s CEO explained to shareholders the bank’s recently approved strategy to grow its business in Malta.
Malita Investments plc also advanced by 0.6% to regain the €0.84 level on volumes totalling 50,550 shares.
On the other hand, Malta Properties Company plc maintained the €0.458 level across 8,260 shares.
Low trading activity also took place in the equities of MIA, MaltaPost and Medserv. Malta International Airport plc and MaltaPost plc held on to €4.88 and €1.85 respectively. On the other hand, Medserv plc retreated by 2.6% to the €1.11 level.
Four deals totalling 2,073 shares forced the equity of Simonds Farsons Cisk plc to drop back to its 16-month low of €6.85 (-0.7%).
The RF MGS Index moved lower for the sixth consecutive day as it slipped by a further 0.06% to a fresh one-month low of 1,114.132 points. Eurozone sovereign yields edged higher as trade tensions between the US and China continued to dissipate. During the past five days, the RF MGS Index shed 0.34% - the sharpest weekly decline in 10 weeks.
Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.