The Malta Stock Exchange index ended the last week of 2009 on a positive note for the fourth consecutive week, as the index gained 0.49 per cent, closing at 3,460.553 points. The index thus reached its highest level for the year and gained 7.87 per cent in 2009. This week the index recorded gains on Monday and Wednesday but fell slightly on Tuesday as three of the eight equities traded registered losses on the day, with only one equity gaining in value while the remaining four traded unchanged. Twelve equities were active this week with six closing in positive territory, four falling in value and two remaining unchanged.
Total transactions for this second short festive week in December amounted to 233 deals with a turnover of over of €6.68 million. In the equity market 160 deals were executed for a total value of €487,954 while in the corporate bond market 50 transactions were registered for a value of €444,810 spread over 16 bonds. On the other hand 21 transactions in the government bond market totalling €237,152 were executed across 10 securities. In the Treasury bills market, two transactions which amounted to just over €5.5 million were executed, which justifies the larger traded volume over last week.
Once again, Bank of Valletta plc was the most traded equity on the MSE this week with just over 72,400 shares traded, up from 41,000 recorded last week. Week-on-week the equity gained 1.87 per cent and a staggering 33.83 per cent higher in 2009. BOV was the best performer this year with the equity's share price reaching €3.87 on Wednesday. This year BOV traded at a yearly high of €3.95 and a low of €2.001, as over 2.6 million shares changed hands.
Middlesea Insurance plc registered the second highest volume traded this week as 56,644 shares changed hands on 27 deals. The equity gained 1.77 per cent on the week having gained 11 per cent the previous week. The equity's share price lost five per cent on Monday, but recovered by seven per cent on Tuesday and fell very slightly on Wednesday. The equity closed the year at €0.804, having recovered from the lows of €0.60 after having fallen from a 2009 high of €2.58. The insurance company was the worst performer last year, notwithstanding the recovery in recent weeks. In a company announcement issued last Wednesday, the board was informed by Mario Grech, the executive chairman, that he will not be renewing his executive position following the expiry of his current contract on December 31, 2009.
FIMBank plc gained 0.92 per cent on the week as volume in this equity reached 53,390 shares on 10 deals. The equity traded mainly during Tuesday's session as nine deals were executed with 52,890 shares changing hands. Year-to-date FIMBank's was the worst performing bank as its share price fell by just over 25 per cent.
On the other hand, the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc ended 2009 up 19.63 per cent, despite a negligible fall in the share price this week. The equity closed the year at €3.23, down 0.15 per cent on the week as 14,330 shares changed hands on 20 transactions. HSBC Bank Malta traded at a high of €3.27 and a low of €2.06 in 2009 with over 2.3 million shares changing hand.
International Hotel Investments plc traded only during Monday's session as 26,750 shares traded across five transactions, at €0.80. The equity lost just over 10 per cent in 2009.
Go plc ended the year as the second best performer registering gains of 19.86 per cent, despite falling marginally this week by 0.43 per cent. During the year the equity fell to €1.40 having ended 2008 at the €1.752 level but regained all losses and reached a high of €2.12 but ended 2009 at €2.10. Over 1.3 million shares were traded in Go plc across 902 transactions.
For the third consecutive week Global Capital plc ended on a positive note as a mere 370 shares traded on Monday resulting in a rise of 5.47 per cent in the share price, thus closing the year at €1.35. Notwithstanding this recovery in recent weeks the share price of Global Capital fell by 32 per cent in 2009.
The share price of Lombard Bank plc registered gains of 0.67 per cent this week as 3,696 shares were traded on five transactions. The equity price closed the week at its yearly high of €2.99, a mere €0.01 lowered than last year's closing price.
Another gainer this week was Malta International Airport which traded 11 times with turnover reaching 8,185 shares. The equity's share price gained 2.13 per cent and closed the year at €2.40, however ending the year at a loss of four per cent, having traded at a low of €2 and a high of €2.50 in 2009.
RS2 Software plc and Island Hotels Group Holdings plc traded only once this week with turnover being 1,900 and 1,000 shares respectively. The share price of the latter fell back to €1.01 thus losing 0.98 per cent on the week while the former closed unchanged at €0.557. The share price of RS2 had a bad year as it fell by 30 per cent and was one of the worst performers in 2009.
The other equity that traded this week was Maltapost which fell back to €0.70 and lost 2.78 per cent on the week and 14.4 per cent in 2009. Maltapost recovered from its low of 2009 of €0.60 but was not about to bounce back to its high level of €0.82.
I wish you all a prosperous and profitable New Year.
This article, which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi, managing director of Jesmond Mizzi Financial Services Limited (JMFS), does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. JMFS is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA. 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 JMFS at 67/3, South Street, Valletta or on Tel: 2122 4410 or e-mail jmizzi@jmfs.net.