The share price of Bank of Valletta tumbled 3.8 per cent during this morning’s trading session to a new three-week low of €2.30 across 29 deals totalling 119,344 shares.
The bank’s share price fell following last Thursday’s announcement revealing that legal proceedings have been instituted against it before an Italian Court whereby BOV is being requested to pay a sum of up to €363 million.
The bank has received a legal opinion clearly stating that there is no basis at law for the claim being made before the Italian Court and that the bank should reject the claim against it as completely unfounded.
BOV confirmed that further announcements will be made in the event of any significant developments in this respect.
The equity of HSBC also closed in negative territory although its share price only eased 0.5 per cent lower back to the €2.09 level on volumes of 40,338 shares.
The losses sustained in the two largest caps forced the MSE Share Index down 0.8 per cent to 3,773.569 points despite gains in five other equities.
Malta International Airport advanced by 1.5 per cent to regain its all-time high of €3.50 across nine trades totalling 36,950 shares. The equity of MIA will continue to trade with the entitlement to the final gross dividend of 12c31 per share until April 16.
Four other equities reached new record levels. Medserv edged 0.6 per cent higher to €1.91,1 on a single deal of 5,000 shares. The equity will trade with the entitlement to the net dividend of 5c6 per share until May 26.
Likewise, Malita Investments climbed by 3.2 per cent to a new all-time high of 97c on high volumes amounting to 127,000 shares.
MaltaPost shares also touched a fresh all-time high of €1.42,5 before easing back to the €1.42,1 level which still represents a minimal increase over the previous closing price. A total of 12,000 shares changed hands across four deals.
The only other positive performing equity was RS2 Software as it edged up 0.7 per cent to a fresh all-time high of €2.99 across five deals totalling 23,000 shares. The company has yet to announce the date of the board meeting for the publication of the 2014 full-year results.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index was practically unchanged at 1,170.866 points as benchmark 10-year Eurozone yields were flat around the 0.185 per cent level. Last week, yields touched fresh all-time lows of 0.152 per cent.
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