Last week US crude oil breached the $78-a-barrel level, a new high for 2009, gold traded at a record price of $1,070 an ounce, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached the 10,000 mark for the first time this year.
America's second-largest bank, JP Morgan Chase, announced profits of $3.59 billion while Goldman Sachs earned $3.2bn in the third quarter. However, Citigroup suffered its seventh loss in eight quarters and Bank of America lost $1bn.
These were some of the major business news headlines last week that had an impact on the market in one way or another. In fact, markets rallied on hearing the good news but gave up some of the gains when the bad news emerged on Friday.
However, the US Dow Jones still ending the week up 1.32% while Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 2.4%. Meanwhile, the FTSE Euro First 300 was up 1.2% as company earning announcements were mixed but Germany's Xetra Dax still reached its highest level in more than a year and the euro hit a 14-month high against the US dollar.
The FTSE 100 index in London gained just over half a percentage point after having reach a 2009 high during the week.
Sterling recovered from recent lows and managed to gain 3% against the US dollar and 2% against the euro as the Bank of England indicated that measures it had taken in recent months were having the scale and speed of effect it had hoped for.
In the international bond markets, US government bonds fell slightly during the week, while the yield of 10-year Treasuries was up slightly to 3.42%. In the UK, the 10-year Gilts reached 3.6% and the German 10-year Bund reached 3.29%.
The Malta Stock Exchange index recovered some of last week's decline, increasing 0.57% to close the week at 3,179.388 points. Nine equities were traded last week, with four closing in the red, three remaining unchanged, and two ending in positive territory.
A total of 286 deals were registered during the week with a turnover of over €28.86m. In the equity market, 108 deals were executed for a total value of €343,749.
HSBC Bank Malta plc was the best performer last week, closing at €2.80, a gain of €0.06, or 2.19%. The equity registered three consecutive gains of 1.09%, 0.29% and 0.79% in the week's first three sessions. A total of 44,165 shares were traded in 34 deals.
On the other hand, Bank of Valletta plc crept €0.01 (0.3%) lower, as 44,140 shares changed hands in 38 deals, for a total value of €146,438. The equity fell 6.18% on Wednesday but managed to regain most of the loss on Thursday and Friday, rising 1.88% and 3.08% respectively. The equity traded at a low of €3.19 and a high of €3.40, closing the week at €3.35.
Fimbank plc and Malta International Airport plc closed the week unchanged at $1.20 and €2.25 respectively. A total of 16,200 Fimbank shares were traded in three deals while 2,122 MIA shares changed hands in six deals.
Lombard Bank plc fell €0.05, or 2%, to close at €2.45, as 10,338 shares were exchanged in eight transactions.
Go plc gained 1.94% last week to recover from the previous week's loss. The equity appreciating by €0.03 to close the week at €1.58, after 11,176 shares were traded in 13 transactions.
Newcomer Island Hotels Group Holdings plc traded at €1, with a single trade of 4,700 shares being executed.
Santumas Shareholdings plc registered a huge loss of 17.76%, closing at €2.50, as 2,735 shares changed hands in three transactions.
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc experienced a fall of €0.089 (5.24%) to close the week at €1.61 after a mere 232 shares were exchanged in two deals.
In the corporate bond market the 5.6% Global Capital 2014/2016 bond was up 0.91%, the 6.5% International Hotels Investments 2013 bond was up 0.75% while the 5.35% BoV bond traded at €104, a drop of 0.72%. During the week a total of 113 deals were registered for a value of €758,377.
Malta Government Stock fell last week except for two stocks: 5.5% MGS 2023(I), which was up 1.71% at €107 and the 7.8% MGS 2018 which closed up 0.63% at €125.26.
This was a particularly bad week for government stocks as 17 out of 19 bonds traded fell in price. A total of 61 transactions were executed for a value traded of over €27.75m. The most traded bond was once again the 5.7% MGS 2012 (III) as €27.05m worth of the bond was traded in six deals.
This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi, managing director of Jesmond Mizzi Financial Services Ltd (JMFS), does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. JMFS is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned in this article. For further information contact JMFS at 67/3, South Street, Valletta, Tel: 2122 4410 or e-mail jmizzi@jmfs.net.