Trading for the first day of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange resulted in a positive outcome for the Index which bounced back 2.2 per cent to close slightly above the 2,800 level. Activity in the equity market was spread over a total of 23 deals with investors trading in five listings. Banks were the major gainers for the day when fresh buying activity increased their price further, thereby pushing the Index higher.
Bank of Valletta was the day's best performer as the equity rose by 15c4 or seven per cent to terminate at €2.35. Trading activity for the financial services company was relatively subdued with only two investors swapping a mere 500 shares, carrying a market value of just €1,177, at the top of the day's range.
HSBC Bank Malta too climbed higher by 8c3 or 3.5 per cent to end the day at €2.44. The bank was also the most liquid equity as investors struck 20,858 shares over eight deals for a market consideration of €50,872.
Lombard Bank Malta maintained its previous closing price of €2.45 when a single low volume deal was struck.
At the end of the session, a further 196 shares remained unfilled on the offer side at the day's closing price against supply of 900 shares best bidding at the €2.20 level.
Go was the day's most actively traded equity when 13,340 shares were transacted over 11 deals for an aggregate value of €20,109. The quadruple play communications' company was the day's only loser albeit declining at a negligible one-tenth of a cent to close at €1.55. On the contrary low volume activity helped Malta International Airport recoup 1c or 0.5 per cent to reclaim the €2.07 level. The price seems poised to move higher with demand for 610 shares bidding at €2.10, while best supply is for 2,500 shares best offered at the €2.17 level.
In the fixed interest sector of the market, activity was spread over nine government stocks and five corporate bonds. The highest turnover in the government securities was registered in the five per cent MGS 2021 with 825,000 nominal struck across four deals forcing the security to shed 39 ticks to close at €102.
Weekly US economic review
US economic data continued to languish in negative territory as most data issued over the past week signalled anything but a quick recovery.
Housing starts and permits figures erased much of their February gains. Starts fell 10.8 per cent to 510,000 after rising 17.2 per cent to 572,000 in February, while Permits fell nine per cent to 513,000 after rising 6.2 per cent previously.
Retail sales followed through the negative housing data footsteps, as the retail activity fell 1.1 per cent in March, largely eroding the 1.9 per cent and 0.3 per cent gains of January and February, respectively. The details of the report were negative, as broad-based declines impacted almost every major category with the exceptions of food and beverage stores and health and personal care stores, largely reflecting the resiliency of purchases of consumer necessities.
Meanwhile, March's industrial production was another black spot in the US economic schedule as it fell 1.5 per cent, which was similar to February's performance and significantly worse than most economists anticipated.
Finally, inflationary data at both the producers' and consumers' level registered some declines, as the Producers' Price Index dropped by 1.2 per cent month-on-month. On the other hand, Consumer Price Inflation registered a monthly drop of 0.1 per cent for a year-on-year negative figure of 0.4 per cent.
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.