The first week of April saw the Malta Stock Exchange index slide further downwards, maintaining the downward trend dating back from at least the start of February.
Not a single local equity ended the week in positive territory, with the index dragged down to 3,437.375 by Friday. This week-on-week performance represents a loss of 0.77%, therefore further piling on the year-to-date losses which have now surpassed the 9% mark.
The local market continues to disappoint particularly upon comparison with major stock exchange indices abroad which closed the week marginally higher. The underperformance by the local index therefore continues to worsen week after week most particularly given the encouraging performance by most indices since mid-March in contrast to the local market’s continuous negative trend.
Volume of traded shares topped 200,000 last week yet nearly 95% of all this trading took place solely in three equities namely Bank of Valletta plc, HSBC Bank Malta plc and Go plc.
Nine equities were traded, two of which ended the week unchanged while the remaining seven lost value, pulling the overall index down.
Trading in Bank of Valletta plc continues to edge higher, with nearly 76,000 shares exchanging ownership over the past week. Barring Thursday, when no trading in this stock occurred, every trading session led to a lower share price with losses seemingly worsening as the week progressed. This week saw its share price edge 1.66% lower to close at €2.901 very much retracing the previous week’s gain.
This equity’s share price continues to zig-zag very much without clear direction with buyers creating a floor and supporting the price as it reaches or approaches €2.90 and sellers disposing of these equities upon some slight gains from this level.
Similarly, HSBC Bank Malta plc share price seems to have reached a stale mate situation with the share price remaining intact for the week and closing at €2.93. Nevertheless, intra-week buyers and sellers battled for direction as the price initially climbed to €2.95. The gain was, however, nullified later on in the week. Volume was fairly significant with nearly 69,000 HSBC shares exchanging hands throughout the week.
Go plc has been attracting considerable interest among local traders and investors, particularly given the hefty 23% downward slide since the start of the year. Although, last week was another negative one for this equity, which shed 1% of its value, the weekly losses seem to be moderating somewhat.
Indeed a slight turnaround was already noticed last week with the share price initially slumping to €1.48 by Tuesday but was upped slightly to €1.49 the following day. The share price continued to trade at €1.49 for the remainder of the week backed by fair volume. The total volume was a hefty 52,435 shares spread fairly evenly throughout the sessions.
Trading in the remaining six stocks was minimal, totalling barely 11,000 shares in all. As often occurs, such minimal trading led to wide volatility in some of these equities’ share prices yet such low volumes indicate low to negligible conviction behind the moves.
Malta International Airport plc saw its share price decline by a minor 0.56% to close the week at €1.76. Share price volatility and traded volume have remained very subdued over the past month at least, as investors await clearer signals of further potential profits, weighing them against disruptions from geopolitical instabilities.
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc, Middlesea Insurance plc and Plaza Centres plc share prices were all dragged down by well over 5%, yet volume in each of these stocks barely surpassed 1,000 shares.
Maltapost plc share price fell by 1% to close at €1.09 while Loqus Holdings plc remained unchanged, both on minimal trading.
Trading in Corporate bonds totalled €407,000 in value. Bond price movements have been fairly stable over the past week contrasting with price movements recorded some weeks ago. Volume has also been considerably on the low side.
Trading in local Government bonds was hefty particularly following a large trade in the 7.8% MGS 2018 issue. A total of 14 deals valued at more than €34 million were traded in this stock. In total, nearly €41 million worth of local Government stocks were traded.
In line with Government stock European benchmarks, most of the local stocks declined in value last week albeit in a moderate fashion. As equities continue to outperform bonds, investors world-wide sell out of safe havens including safe government bonds, and buy into higher yielding equity markets.
This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi, Joint Managing Director of Atlas JMFS Investment Services Limited, does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. Atlas JMFS is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA and a Member Firm of the Malta Stock Exchange. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned in this article. For further information contact Atlas JMFS at 67/3, South Street, Valletta or on Tel: 21224410 or email jesmond.mizzi@atlasjmfs.com