Trading activity on the Malta Stock Exchange was relatively subdued during yesterday's session, with deals being registered in four components and a total number of transactions amounting to 23. The MSE Index registered a slight decline to close at 3,339 points.
Supply side pressures caused Grand Harbour Marina to buckle with 6,000 shares discounting the price by 5c, to close at €1.85.
HSBC Bank Malta was the day's most active equity as investors cleared off 13,920 shares over 10 transactions. Deals were executed at an intraday low of €2.90 only to regain some ground and close at €2.91, thereby registering a decrease of 1c or 0.34 per cent.
Bank of Valletta was the only gainer during the first session of the week. Early trading on low volume was executed at the previous closing price of €3.60, while more substantive turnover was dealt towards the closing bell. This represents an increase of 0.28 per cent over a total volume of 4,750 shares dealt over five transactions.
The highest turnover was transacted in FIMBank where 22,500 shares were swapped over six deals leaving the price level in unchanged territory at $1.40.
In a company announcement issued late last week, RS2 Software announced that it has successfully concluded two significant contracts. Performance and cash generation remained in line with expectations, while highlighting a transitional period of possible slow-down of revenue for the second half of the year after an upbeat first six months. During the period under review the software company has initiated an exercise of reorganising its operations with a view of increasing efficiency and intends on setting up two offices in cost effective countries.
In the fixed interest sector of the market, activity was spread across five corporate bonds and seven government stocks. The 5% MGS 2021 attracted the highest turnover, with 170,721 nominal, as it closed down by 0.03 per cent at €102.52. The highest percentage increase in the local bond market was registered in the 6.65% MGS 2016 when 4,659 nominal were swapped at a price of €115.26 therefore trading up by 1.09 per cent.
US economic review
October retail sales collapsed 2.8 per cent from September level, marking the fourth consecutive month of contraction. In year-on-year terms sales are now down 4.1 per cent, which is the largest decline on record for this series (dating back to 1967). The detailed sales figures were generally weak, albeit the declines were not quite as diffuse as in September. A few categories eked out small gains or held steady, such as food and beverage and health and personal care.
On the employment front, jobless claims rose by 32,000 to 516,000 from the week ending November 8, the highest reading since September 29, 2001. Continuing claims increased from 65,000 to 3,897,000, the highest reading since January 1983. The rise in this reading tells us that once workers are laid off, they are having severe difficulties in obtaining employment. Alongside the claims report was the September international trade balance. The data showed a dramatic improvement in the deficit from -$59.1 billion in August to -$56.5 billion in September.
Meanwhile, most of the disappointment came from the Treasury's announcement to abandon its earlier intention of purchasing illiquid mortgage securities in what was labelled the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP). Last Wednesday, Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said that the Treasury will not conduct auctions to purchase troubled assets and will continue to focus on injecting capital directly into the financial sector.
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.