The RF MGS Index moved lower on the bond market for the third consecutive day today as it fell by a further 0.47% to an eight-month low of 1,142.197 points. The sell-off in bond markets sparked by the result of last week’s US Presidential election continued today.
In fact, the benchmark 10-year German Bund yield hit an intra-day near ten-month high of 0.397% from 0.326% last Friday. The opening indicative bid price of the Central Bank of Malta (CBM) for the recently issued 2.10% MGS 2039 I R fell below par to 99.99% – i.e. 251 basis points below the issue price of 102.50%. The RF MGS Index is now down 3.39% since reaching an all-time high of 1,182.272 just three weeks ago.
On the equity market, the MSE Share Index kicked-off the week in negative territory as it slipped by 0.25% from last Friday’s four-month high to close today’s session at 4,545.964 points. The decline was due to losses in the share prices of BOV (-1.5%) and MIA (-1.0%) which outweighed the 2.6% rebound in RS2.
Most of today’s trading activity took place in the equity of Bank of Valletta plc as 77,712 shares for a value of €0.18 million – representing 66% of the total value of equities traded today – changed hands. The share price retreated to the €2.30 level (-1.5%) from last Friday’s near nine-year high of €2.334. Tomorrow, the equity will start trading without the entitlement to the recently declared final gross dividend of €0.0852 per share (net: €0.0554).
A single deal of just 1,000 shares pulled Malta International Airport plc back to the €4.04 level (-1.0%). Last Monday, MIA published its October traffic results revealing a 10.4% increase over the same month last year to over half-a-million passengers – the first time that passenger movements exceeded the 500,000 mark in the month of October.
During the first ten months of 2016, MIA registered a 7.8% increase in passenger movements to 4.4 million when compared to the same period last year. In July, MIA had revised upwards its passenger forecast for 2016 to +7.5% to an estimated throughput of 4.97 million passengers.
Shallow trading also took place in International Hotel Investments plc and Malta Properties Company plc. Both equities closed flat at €0.65 and €0.60 respectively. on Friday, IHI announced that it submitted an application to the Listing Authority of the Malta Financial Services Authority requesting the admissibility to listing of €40 million in new unsecured bonds maturing in 2026.
The new bonds are principally targeted to existing bondholders of the 6.25% IHI plc 2017/20 (which will be redeemed early on 9 April 2017) and the 6.5% IHG 2017/19 (which will also be redeemed on the first date possible – i.e. 1 July 2017). IHI will provide further information on the issue of the new bonds after the issue of the necessary approval by the Listing Authority.
Medserv plc retained the €1.48 level on volumes totalling 26,100 shares whilst GO plc held on to its over five-month high of €3.25 after opening at an intra-day low of €3.17 (-2.5%). A total of 3,593 shares traded today.
HSBC Bank Malta plc maintained the €1.85 level across 9,939 shares.
In contrast, RS2 Software plc advanced 2.6% to the €1.59 level on volumes totalling 8,140 shares.
The General Public offer for the new 3.75% bonds by Premier Capital plc maturing in 2026 issued closed due to over-subscription.