Following three consecutive positive sessions which lifted the MSE Share Index to a 14-month high of 3,186.397 points, the local equity benchmark today retreated by 0.2% to 3,181.001 points.

Today's decline was due to the 0.7% drop in the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc to €2.78 across two trades totalling 10,000 shares. This offset the 0.9% increase in the equity of Malta International Airport plc which regained the €1.75 level on volumes of 6,650 shares.

Meanwhile, the only other active equity during this morning's trading session, Bank of Valletta plc, recovered from an intra-day low of €2.20 to close unchanged at the €2.23 level as investors continue to take positions ahead of the Bank's preliminary full-year results expected to be published by the end of the month. A total of 51,690 shares changed hands across fourteen trades.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged marginally higher to 997.678 points as Eurozone yields eased from last Friday morning's 1.48% to this morning's 1.47% level. However, by this afternoon the benchmark 10-year German bund yields regained the 1.48% level as investors await Spain's bailout request and following Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel comments in which she stated that there is no risk of uncontrollable events in the Eurozone.

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