The Malta Stock Exchange closed up seven points yesterday, helped by the performance of Malta's postal operator, Maltapost plc. The index finished the session at the 3525.678 level, up 0.2 per cent.
Maltapost plc, which lost 2c in Monday's session, recovered more than those losses yesterday by gaining 5c, or 6.25 per cent, to close at €0.85 in 10 trades of 16,430 shares.
Malta International Airport plc also finished in positive territory, closing up 2.2 per cent, or seven cents to finish at €3.20 in a single session of 600 shares.
The other issue to close up on the day was Bank of Valletta plc, which moved marginally higher to €3.41, or 1c over Monday's close, in eight trades of 2,856 shares.
Closing on the downside yesterday was Go plc, which ended off 0c2, or less than 0.1 per cent to finish at €2.168.
There were several other shares to see trading in the day yet failed to register a change in their closing price. In the banking sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc ended the day at €3.08 in 10 trades of 16,430 shares while Lombard Bank Malta closed at €2.93 in a single trade of 100 shares. Middlesea Insurance plc finished unchanged at €1.67 while Loqus Holdings plc and RS2 Software plc closed at their respective Monday's closing prices of €0.20 and €0.48.
At the end of the day yesterday, Middlesea Insurance plc announced its financial results for the financial year ended December 31, 2009. The Middlesea Insurance Group produced a pre-tax loss of €54.4 million versus a pre-tax loss of €29.8 million for the same period in 2008. The group witnessed a full impairment of €63.1 million on its Italian subsidiary Progress Assicurazioni S.p.A, after Progress shut its doors earlier this year.
Weekly US economic review
In the United States, wholesale prices, as measured by the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by 0.7 per cent in March. This was higher than forecasted and followed a drop of 0.6 per cent the previous month. Excluding food and energy, prices remained on the same pattern, as they rose by 0.1 per cent for the second month. In fact, food prices registered the largest gain since 1984.
In the housing sector, sales of previously owned homes registered an increase of 6.8 per cent in March to a 5.35 million annual rate. This was the first registered rise in four months and followed a decline of 0.6 per cent the previous month. Meanwhile, new home sales figures broke a four-month slide as sales increased by 27 per cent in March, to an annual pace of 411,000. This was the highest rise in almost five decades and followed a record-low of 324,000 in February. These results were mainly driven by home buyers taking advantage of the government tax credit incentive, worth as much as $8,000 for contracts closed by the end of June.
The positive figures in the housing sector were also reflected in the labour market, since the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits fell in the week which ended in April 17. Initial jobless claims applications dropped by 24,000 to 456,000 while claims to get extended benefits fell by 40,000 to a reading of 4,646,000. Finally, durable goods orders dropped by 1.3 per cent in March, the first time in four months, as new aircraft plunged 67 per cent. Excluding transportation goods, new orders rose 2.8 per cent after increasing by 1.7 per cent the previous month.
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.