Local investors continued to book profits during the first trading session of the week, shifting funds from those equities that have registered recent gains to other equities in the market.
HSBC Bank Malta suffered the brunt of this selling activity as 26,514 shares were exchanged across 25 transactions. The equity declined steadily throughout the session, closing the day 5c5 or 2.6 per cent lower at Lm2.085. At the end of the session, 5,350 shares were best bid at Lm2.08 whilst offers were for 1,500 shares at Lm2.10.
Trading activity in Bank of Valletta consisted of 3,530 shares which were exchanged across seven transactions. The equity wobbled slightly although it still managed to close unchanged at Lm3.70.
Similarly two trades in FIMBank shares which saw 1,500 shares changing hands, were executed without affecting its previous closing price of $1.73.
Investor determinedly purchased shares of International Hotels Investments, scooping up an aggregate total of 36,365 shares over 11 transactions. The equity rallied almost three per cent to close at a historical high of €1.05. International Hotel Investments have recently announced the signing of a framework agreement and a memorandum of understanding with local and international companies. At the end of the session, demand was for 5,657 shares at €1.05 while supply was for merely 745 shares at a lofty €1.20.
Elsewhere in the market, Maltacom shares declined slightly after commencing trade on a positive note. A total of 13,723 shares, carrying a market consideration of Lm19,987, were swapped across 15 deals, squeezing the price lower by 0c4 or 0.3 per cent to close the day at Lm1.451.
Six-year highs recaptured by European equity markets
European equity markets recaptured six-year highs yesterday, taking their lead from Asian bourses, thanks to rebounding resource stocks, including oil producers and logging and paper groups. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.4 per cent higher, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax gained 0.3 per cent, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.1 per cent.
London equities were higher as investors rushed to buy into Smiths Group. The defence group unveiled plans to sell its aerospace division to General Electric, with much of the proceeds due to be returned to shareholders. Smiths Group jumped 11.9 per cent higher as it confirmed plans to sell its aerospace division to US conglomerate GE for £2.4 billion. The company pledged to return $1.1 billion of the proceeds to shareholders and unveiled terms of a combine its detection operations with GE's in a 64:36 joint venture. By late morning, the FTSE 100 was 28 points higher at 6,267.0 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 rose 77.6 points to 11,189.3.
Markets in the US were closed yesterday for the Martin Luther King memorial holiday.
The Topix rose to an eight-month closing high, boosted by a sharp rise in machinery orders. The broad index of Japanese stocks climbed 1.1 per cent.
The Nikkei 225 closed up 0.9 per cent.