Market sentiment was particularly fragile during the week's opening session on the Malta Stock Exchange yesterday as investors sold equities across the board, causing the MSE Index to dip by 0.511 per cent, to 4,874.409 points.
In the banking sector, all four listed banks treaded water. Lombard Bank was the leader of the pack, with the equity losing a full 10c during the session, to close the day 1.96 per cent lower at Lm5.
HSBC Bank Malta was the most actively traded equity with 22,250 shares being struck across 22 transactions. The trading pattern deteriorated throughout the session with the equity closing at the lowest of the day's trading range, at Lm1.97,5 after having starting the session unchanged at Lm1.99. At the end of the session 1,000 shares remained outstanding at the closing price against supply for 4,000 shares being offered at Lm1.98
Bank of Valletta shares also finished in the red, shedding 1c or 0.28 per cent over the previous closing price, to close the session at Lm3.59. A total 9,520 shares, carrying a market consideration of just over Lm34,000 were exchanged during today's session which were spread across six transactions.
This negative trend was also evident in International Hotel Investments shares and FimBank shares where prices gave in €0.00,4 and $0.01, respectively. Similarly slim demand for Malta International Airport shares made the share lose 1.11 per cent or 1c to close the session at Lm1.33,5 with just 880 shares being exchanged across two transactions.
Against this backdrop, it was only Maltacom which managed to buck the negative trend, with the equity closing unchanged at Lm1.50, notwithstanding latest media reports which announced that Melita Cable and Vodafone will team up together to provide a combined package to their subscribers.
European stocks higher
European stocks were higher yesterday as gains, driven by takeover speculation, offset falling oil producers as crude prices weakened. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.4 per cent, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax and the CAC-40 gained 0.6 per cent respectively. London's FTSE 100 climbed 0.1 per cent.
Wall Street stocks were mainly set for a higher open with deals and a tailwind from last week's robust November jobs report boosting sentiment.
Renewed deal activity boosted stock index futures early, and less than an hour before the opening bell, S&P 500 futures were up two points at 1424.2, above fair value of 1421.93. Meanwhile Nasdaq futures were up one point at 1809, trading just under fair value at 1809.27. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 18 points at 12,414.
In Japan investors bought up the stocks of Japanese blue-chip exporters, responding to yen weakness against the dollar. But the market's rise was trimmed by another slump in consumer lenders' stock prices. The Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.7 per cent as did the broader Topix. Technology stocks and automakers were the main winners from subsiding concerns over the impact of a strong yen. Honda Motor rose 1.7 per cent while Toyota climbed 1.4 per cent.
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Valletta Fund Management (tel. 8007 2344) and Bank of Valletta plc (tel. 2131 2020)