The MSE index tumbled 2.4 per cent during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange, dragged lower by weakness in Bank of Valletta and Maltacom shares.
Pressure by sellers wanting to offload their holdings, coupled with a lack of interest by buyers brought Bank of Valletta's share to trade down at the lowest permissible level of the day. The equity, which is still trading with the right to an 11c gross final dividend, shed 26c2 or 6.6 per cent to close the session at Lm3.68,8, its lowest level in six weeks.
HSBC Bank Malta declined too, as negative sentiment spilled over. Initial activity saw the lion's share of the session's total turnover being exchanged at the Lm2.08 level. However, as the day progressed sellers came to the fray, dropping the price lower by 2c or 0.9 per cent to close at Lm2.06. Selling activity in Maltacom is forcing the equity to retest last week's lows as 5,380 shares were struck across nine deals forcing the price to close 2c9 or 1.8 per cent lower at Lm1.55,1.
Medserv continued to improve in value, as fresh fund helped the price reach a new all-time high of Lm1.40. The day's activity consisted of a healthy 35,210 shares which were transacted across 14 deals.
Simonds Farsons Cisk fully redeemed the Lm2,000,000 nominal of their 6.25 per cent bond and investors greeted the news positively, pushing the price higher by 2c or 2.6 per cent to 80c, its highest level since mid-July.
Elsewhere in the market, GlobalCapital declined 0.8 per cent to Lm2.30 on low volume while Datatrak Holdings climbed a penny to close at 31c as 4,177 shares were exchanged across four transactions.
Tokyo stocks down on weak US data
Earnings momentum lifted European equity markets from early weakness yesterday, helping offset the effects of falling Wall Street indices after further evidence of a slowing US economy. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 recovered back to the previous session's closing level of 1,449.67. Frankfurt's Xetra Dax remained 0.1 per cent lower and the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4 per cent.
London equities markets recovered from their early losses by the end of morning trade helped by strong results from Unilever and a recovery in the pharmaceuticals sector. The FTSE 100 pared its early losses to trade just 0.6 points lower at 6,149.0 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 lost 0.2 per cent.
The Japanese stock market fell to its lowest close in four weeks, following a fall in US stocks on weaker manufacturing data. Japanese tech stocks fell particularly hard in morning trade, after strong falls in their US counterparts. The Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix declined 0.2 per cent respectively.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.4 per cent, after the Institute of Supply Management's index of manufacturing activity for October fell unexpectedly. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.4 per cent.
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Valletta Fund Management (tel. 8007 2344) and Bank of Valletta plc (Tel 2131 2020).