Throughout last month the Malta Stock Exchange was characterised by positive moves in financial equities and there was further activity in these equities last week. Over the month, the MSE index rose 2.8%, thereby managing to recover the losses suffered in September and October. Bank of Valletta plc’s share price appreciated by a staggering 10.45% last month and Middlesea Insurance following suit with a 5% rise.
However, despite November’s positive trend, last week was moderately negative for the MSE as the bull and bear market forces were nearly even. The largest two capitalised equities on the exchange succumbed to selling pressure, thereby deflating the MSE index. But gains by some other equities moderated the overall loss, with the index ending the week down by just over half a percentage point.
Volume picked up slightly last week, particularly due to renewed interest in HSBC Bank Malta plc equities. A total of 383,380 shares in 12 equities were exchanged over 163 deals. Five equities ended the week lower, another five gained in value and the other two were unchanged.
Once again, last week Fimbank plc took the lion’s share of trading, with nearly half of all trading occurring in this stock during the week’s first two sessions. By Tuesday this hefty volume lifted the share price by 2.15% to $0.95. No further trading occurred for the rest of the week. Last week’s slight uptick seems to have somewhat confirmed last month’s halt to the continuous slide in Fimbank’s share price which started earlier this year.
Trading in HSBC Bank Malta plc equities picked up last week with nearly 76,000 shares changing hands. Deals were spread evenly throughout the week. The share price immediately took a dive in Monday’s trading and although there was a half-hearted effort to reverse some of this loss, ultimately sellers reaffirmed control, with the share price closing at €2.89, or 1.70% lower. HSBC’s share price has lost value for two weeks in a row, erasing nearly half of November’s upswing.
On the other hand, Bank of Valletta plc shares managed to close the week in marginally positive territory, with slight share price volatility throughout the week. A total of 56,766 BoV shares were traded. The share price closed at €3.70.
Nearly 36,000 Go plc shares were traded last week. Notwithstanding initial choppy movements, the share price ended the week with a 0.53% gain, pushing past the sticky €1.90 level. The share price closed Friday’s session at €1.91, therefore sustaining the painfully slow upward trend that began in late September.
Go’s share price has climbed moderately by over 4% since September, therefore reversing most of the losses suffered in the summer months. Notwithstanding this, the share price is still significantly in the red on a year-to-date basis, having shed just over 9% over the past 11 months.
Global Capital plc’s share price remained extremely volatile last week following the previous week’s severe drop. On Friday, four deals totalling 21,800 shares pushed the share price sharply higher, to end the session at €1.26, or 26.4% higher.
Over the past two weeks, therefore, this equity’s share price has fallen 1.6% yet moved drastically from €1.28 to €0.997, and back up to €1.26. However, it is interesting that the previous week’s fall occurred on minimal volumes while last week’s uplift was backed by a higher volume of trading.
International Hotel Investments plc’s share price continued to spiral down, falling 1.95% last week to close at €0.755. Therefore, all the gains achieved gradually since the first week of January till August have now been eaten away following a particularly negative trend over the past three months. However, despite the current gloom, the share price is ‘only’ 5.6% lower than at the end of 2009.
Maltapost plc equities shed the most value last week, nearly reversing the previous week’s steady climb. The share price closed at €0.93, or 2.11% lower on minimal volume. Overall, however, irrespective of last week’s slight decline, the share price remains close to its all-time high with a year-to-date stellar performance of nearly 33%.
Very low volume resulted in negative performances for Middlesea Insurance plc and Simonds Farsons Cisk plc and a gain for Malta International Airport plc shares. RS2 Software plc’s share price remained unchanged at €0.50 on light trading volume. Lombard Bank plc also maintained the previous week’s closing price of €2.57.
Santumas Shareholdings plc announced last week that at the company’s annual general meeting held on November 25, the shareholders considered and approved several resolutions, including a final net dividend of 2 cents per share, and also proposed an interim net dividend of 2.6 cents per share.
Late on Monday, Crimsonwing plc’s directors announced the company’s interim financial statements for the period ended September 30. The company’s performance was described as satisfactory, with a healthy revenue growth of 17% over the first half of 2009. Operating profits climbed 64.6% to €342,353, and pre-tax profit shot up 91.1%.
Last week Midi plc announced that at an extraordinary general meeting on December 2, a resolution was passed to enable companies that are ‘connected persons’ of some of the directors to take part in the issue of the company’s share offer. A later announcement indicated that the offer closed as soon as applications exceeded the required amount of shares.
Last week, most benchmark international government yields rose slightly higher following confusing and directionless trading. This came about as the fears and caution surrounding Ireland’s financial problems were put on the backburner and largely ignored, with focus turned towards US economic data, particularly unemployment figures.
A slight increase in yields signify small falls in government stock prices, and this was the case also for the Malta Government Stocks (MGSs), mostly for some long-term stocks. The quantity of MGSs traded last week was low, with a market value of circa €1.55 million. The bulk of this trading was concentrated in the 5.25% MGS 2030 issues.
There were moderate and mixed price changes of corporate bonds traded on the local exchange. An increase in volume was noticeable, as €3.67m in the 8% Bay Street Finance plc bond was repurchased by the company from bondholders, representing 63.4% of the original issue amount.
The total market value of local corporate bonds traded last week was circa €5.4m.
Trading in the Treasury Bill market amounted to €1.95m.
This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi, joint managing director of Atlas JMFS Investment Services Ltd, 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 is 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, call 2122 4410 or e-mail jesmond.mizzi@atlasjmfs.com.