During the mid-week session on the Malta Stock Exchange, the index continued to extend gains registered during the prior session, as it rose by 0.6 per cent, to terminate at the 3,463.96 level. Activity in the equity market was spread across an aggregate of six different companies, while investors swapped 121,477 shares over 40 deals.
Bank of Valletta was the day’s best performer as its shares rose by 11c, which equates to an increase of 3.1 per cent to close at €3.630. The Bank also registered the day’s highest number of deals as investors transacted 24,686 shares across twenty deals, for a market consideration of €88,944.
Likewise, FIMBank shares also ended the day in positive territory, as the equity rose by 2c, or 2.1 per cent to end the session at the $0.950 level. The trade finance specialist was also the session’s most liquid equity, as investors exchanged 59,400 shares across ten deals.
On the contrary, HSBC Bank Malta was the sole equity to end the session on a negative note, as its shares depreciated by 2c6 or 0.9 per cent to terminate at €2.873. Trading activity in the bank’s shares resulted when 14,200 shares were swapped across four deals for a market value of €40,200.
Meanwhile, activity in Simonds Farsons Cisk, Go and International Hotel Investments resulted in no change in price to their respective prices during the session. They thus ended the session at €1.750, €1.880 and €0.770 respectively.
Weekly eurozone economic review
During the latest monetary policy meeting, the European Central Bank (ECB) held interest rates at a record low of one per cent for the 18th consecutive month. The ECB will wait until December to decide if it can continue to increase in crises support measures such as providing unlimited short-term liquidity for commercial banks.
In the press conference that ensued the meeting, ECB President Jean Claude Trichet said that the Central Bank was not committed to removing all of its non-standard measures before raising interest rates.
Elsewhere, growth in the eurozone’s dominant services sector lost momentum in October, as the Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped to its lowest levels in eight months to a reading of 53.3 from its previous 54.1 in September. The decline was mainly due to a slowdown in smaller economies and a downturn in Spain outweighed an upswing in Germany.
Retail sales in the euro-area defied market expectations of a small monthly rise in September and contracted for the second month running. In fact, retail sales dropped by 0.2 per cent month-on-month in September, after a smaller than previously estimated decline in August. The sharpest monthly contraction in retail sales was registered in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, where consumers bought 2.3 per cent less goods than in the previous months. Meanwhile, in a separate report, producer prices increased during September, as they rose by a monthly 0.3 per cent, while an Index tracking investor sentiment in the eurozone registered an increase in October, as it rose to a reading of 8.8, after dropping to 7.6 a month earlier.
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.