The MSE Index sported slight declines after yesterday's trading session as the larger banks sold off on profit taking, although gains elsewhere in the market softened the drop.
Bank of Valletta was the day's top loser, with investors continuing to collect their profits by selling shares. On the other hand, buyers lowered their bids accordingly to obtain more favourable entry prices for themselves. By the end of the session, a total of 56,785 shares were exchanged across 99 trades with the price closing 2.1 per cent lower at Lm3.79,8.
HSBC Bank Malta immediately commenced trading lower and although some buying activity crept into the market towards the end of the session, this did not prevent the equity from closing 5c1 lower at Lm9.14,8. On the contrary, FIMBank immediately opened higher as demand swept off all supply up to the $2.08 level, leaving a further 3,950 shares unsatisfied on the bid side, while Lombard Bank moved higher by the slimmest of margins to close at Lm8.75.
For the second day running, Maltacom climbed to its highest permissible level. The day's activity consisted in only 15,394 shares being exchanged across 31 trades, all at Lm2.14,3.
Elsewhere in the market, higher than usual demand for International Hotel Investments saw the price rally 2.3 per cent higher at €0.92. Malta International Airport gained a penny on 7,400 shares to close at Lm1.59.
Wall Street seen cautious ahead of Fed meeting
Wall Street looked set for a slow start yesterday, with investors continuing to be cautious ahead of Alan Greenspan's last meeting as Federal Reserve chairman.
The market was widely expecting the Federal Open Market Committee to raise its benchmark interest rate by another quarter point to 4.5 per cent, the 14th straight rise.
With the rate increase virtually guaranteed, investors will instead be looking closely at the Fed's accompanying statement for clues as to future rate hikes, especially after last week's report showing that the US economy grew much less than expected in the fourth quarter.
The Nikkei 225 rose to another five-year closing high, boosted by rises in banking and material stocks. The Nikkei closed 0.6 per cent higher while the Topix climbed 0.4 per cent. Banking stocks gained 1.2 per cent, led by a 3.8 per cent rise to Y1,370,000 by SMFG. Japan bulls see financial services stocks as well-placed to benefit from Japan's economic recovery, strength of which was highlighted by strong official numbers for employment and household spending yesterday.
London's equities market inched back into positive territory, as strong earnings news from Friends Provident lifted the insurance sector.
The FTSE 100 ticked 0.1 per cent higher while the mid-cap FTSE 250 slipped 0.1 per cent.
European equities turned lower by early afternoon yesterday as advancing crude prices pushed the oil sector higher, but telecoms stocks pushed the broader market lower.
By early afternoon, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was off 0.1 per cent, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax fell 0.2 per cent. In Paris, the CAC 40 was flat at 4,936.62 and London's FTSE 100 shed 0.1 per cent.