The MSE Equity Price Index opened this shortened week in negative territory as it lost 1.69% to a 17-month low of 3,590.055 points. The drops in four equities outweighed the gains in MIA and Tigné Mall. Overall trading activity in equities amounted to €0.11 million.
HSBC Bank Malta plc and Bank of Valletta plc were the worst performing equities today. HSBC shed 7.2% to the €0.77 level across 5,268 shares whilst four deals totalling 39,960 shares forced the share price of BOV to move back to its multi-year low of €0.77 (-6.1%).
Also in the banking sector, FIMBank plc retracted by 5.5% to a fresh all-time low of €0.206 on a total of 88,819 shares. Last week, FIMBank reported a net loss of USD3.84 million for the 2021 financial year. In their commentary, the Directors explained that despite the significant headwinds across global economies, the bank is looking at the future with optimism on the back of its commitment to continue enhancing its activities, simply its business model, as well as expand its product offering to clients.
The ordinary shares of RS2 Software plc dropped by 4.8% to the €1.60 level across 4,753 shares.
On the other hand, Malta International Airport plc added 0.9% to regain the €5.90 level on a single deal of 5,000 shares.
Tigné Mall plc climbed by a further 0.7% to the €0.70 level on 25,200 shares. Last week, the company reported a record net profit of €2.81 million for the 2021 financial year. Shareholders as at close of trading on 15 June will be entitled to receive a final net dividend of €0.0133 per share.
On Monday, Grand Harbour Marina plc reported an EBITDA of €2.56 million for the 2021 financial year which is almost 8% lower than the €2.78 million figure posted in 2020. GHM noted that the pandemic continued to impact its business whilst its financial performance was also adversely affected by the decline of the Turkish Lira against the euro currency. GHM’s equity remained inactive today.
The RF MGS Index lost 0.52% to 1,001.404 points – the lowest level since December 2012. Sovereign bond yields in the euro area continued to trend higher and in fact the 10-year German Bund yield approached the 1% level for the first time since July 2015. On the economic front, the IMF lowered its global economic growth forecast by nearly 100 basis points to 3.2% largely reflecting the repercussions from the war in Ukraine as well as the impact of high inflation.