The Central Bank of Malta stockbroker this morning lowered its Malta Government Stock bid prices for the fourth consecutive session in line with the continued recovery in Eurozone yields to around 2.9 per cent.
The latest upturn in yields follows yesterday's agreement reached between the leaders of European countries to sooth the region's sovereign debt crisis, particularly that of Greece.
Yesterday's EU summit agreed to extend a new bailout package to Greece of €109 billion, reduce the interest rate on this new lending to around 3.5 per cent as well as extending the maturity of its loans from 7.5 years to a minimum of 15 years and possibly up to a maximum of 30 years.
The private sector will also contribute to this debt restructuring through a number of roll-overs, some of which include a 20 per cent haircut.
European leaders also extended the more accommodative rates and maturities to Portugal and Ireland but clearly stated that the private sector will not be involved in these two countries as their situation is not like that of Greece.
The bid price quoted by the Central Bank of Malta in the 5.25 per cent MGS 2030 (I) was lowered a further 58 basis points to 100.74 per cent.
This sharply contrasts with the bid price of July 12 which hit 103.54 per cent after fresh concerns on Italy's sovereign debt sent shockwaves through European financial markets which reflected in a severe downturn in Eurozone yields to 2.5 per cent.
Overall the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged a further 0.3 per cent lower today to 973.285 points, representing a 1.1 per cent drop from the recent peak of 983.696 points reached on July 12.
On the equity market, the MSE Share Index again closed in negative territory with a further 0.2 per cent decline to a new 20-month low of 3,273.164 points.
During this morning's trading session, HSBC Bank Malta plc moved higher for the first time this week as the equity gained 0.7 per cent to €2.89 level on volumes of 5,470 shares.
Meanwhile Bank of Valletta plc failed to recover from yesterday's 1.9 per cent drop as its share price closed unchanged at the €2.65 level, representing a weekly drop of 0.4 per cent.
Similarly Lombard Bank Malta plc failed to recover from last Wednesday's six per cent plunge as another deal of 1,000 shares took place at the €2.67 level. Lombard ranks as the worst performer of the week.
GO plc also ranks amongst this week's worst performing equities following today's 4.4 per cent plunge to the €1.30 level across three trades totalling 2,380 shares.
Medserv plc closely follows with a weekly decline of 3.8 per cent to a new 21-month low of €3.85 as its shares were active for the first time in almost three months.
Malta International Airport plc yesterday reported a 12.7 per cent increase in passenger numbers during the first six months of 2011 and also announced an improved forecast for the whole year whereby the airport operator is expecting a 3.2 per cent growth in passenger traffic to a new record of around 3.4 million. Nonetheless, the share price lost 2.5 per cent today to €1.55 – the lowest level in the past nine months.
Following last Monday's 1.9 per cent increase, the share price of RS2 Software plc dropped back to the 53c during this morning's session across three trades totalling 10,000 shares.