It was a busy mid-week session on the Malta Stock Exchange with eight equities trading and volumes of over 153,000 shares. The MSE Index registered a positive showing, increasing by 1.3 per cent to close at 4,647 points, thereby regaining lost ground during the previous sessions.
Prior to the market opening, International Hotel Investments released their annual results for the financial year ending December 31, wherein they announced profit after tax of just over €10 million. The market reacted positively to this, with 32,669 shares being exchanged over nine deals and the price ending 7c or 6.9 per cent up, thereby closing at the yearly high of €1.08.
Interest in MaltaPost was considerably higher than in previous sessions, with a total turnover of 43,135 shares being traded over 8 transactions, with the price trading at €0.73, which equates to a 3c or 4.3 per cent premium on previous trading levels.
Bank of Valletta was the most actively traded equity with 50,687 shares being dealt across 26 transactions. Buying interest pushed up the price to an intra-day high of €5.60, only to close at €5.57c5 which translates into a 7c5 or 1.4 per cent gain.
On the other hand Go registered the session's only negative closing price, losing 2c5 or 0.8 per cent to close at €2.99 with 6,770 shares changing hands over 6 deals.
Trading in HSBC Bank Malta and GlobalCapital left the prices unchanged at €4.40 and €2.90 respectively. A volume of 9,050 shares over 3 trades in Grand Harbour Marina failed to move the price, a fate similar to Malta International Airport, which saw 1,700 shares swap hands at the price of €3.33.
Weekly UK economic review
The outlook for the United Kingdom economy has deteriorated further as highlighted in the World Economic Outlook report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF underlined the UK as being among the countries most vulnerable to falling house prices. The international organization of 185 countries calculated that UK house prices are 30 per cent higher than could be justified by incomes, interest rates, population growth and credit conditions.
The IMF views were further confirmed by housing data emanating from the Halifax house price survey, where prices plunged in March by the worst figure since the financial crises in 1992.
A downbeat housing market and restless financial markets, may have an amplified impact of the UK economy given the heightened household debt and the reliance of the UK economy on financial services.
Should financial adversity lengthen to a deeper extent, the knock on impact on the UK economy could be more severe than in the US and raises inevitable recessionary fears for the UK.
On the back of deteriorating economic data the market is pricing in around an 80 per cent probability of a 25 basis point rate cut when the Bank of England meets today at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
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.