The Malta Stock Exchange Share Index closed lower for the third consecutive day as it slid by a further 0.38 per cent to a fresh five-week low of 4,408.054 points.
Trading was spread across nine shares – five finished lower, two went up whilst another two closed unchanged. Activity remained on the low side as just under €0.24 million worth of shares traded today.
The most actively traded equity was HSBC Bank Malta plc as 78,223 shares (representing 54.5 per cent of the total value of equities traded) changed hands. The equity retreated by a minimal 0.2 per cent to the €1.647 level.
Among the large companies, two deals of just 1,290 shares pulled the equity of GO plc 3.1 per cent lower from its four-month high of €3.25 to the €3.15 level.
Malita Investments plc 2.5 per cent to the €0.858 level also on low volumes.
Within the same segment, Malta Properties Company plc continued to retract from last week’s near six-month high of €0.60 as it dropped by a further 3.6 per cent to €0.569 on light volumes.
Mapfre Middlesea plc traded for the first time in the last eight trading sessions. The equity retreated by 1.4 per cent to the €2.07 level across 3,930 shares.
Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta plc maintained the €2.265 level on volumes totalling 13,498 shares. BOV’s financial statements as at 30 September 2016 will be published by the end of October.
Likewise, RS2 Software plc closed flat at the €1.57 level after recovering from an intra-day low of €1.55 (-1.3 per cent). A total of 19,865 shares traded today.
In contrast, Malta International Airport plc recovered some of the losses suffered on Monday (-4.0 per cent) as it edged up by 0.5 per cent to the €4.12 level across 2,000 shares.
Last Friday, MIA published its September traffic results revealing a 5.8 per cent increase in passenger movements to an all-time high of 531,962 passengers. Between January and September 2016, MIA registered a 7.5 per cent increase in passenger movements to 3.89 million when compared to the same period last year on the back of a 5.3 per cent increase in seat capacity and a 1.7 percentage point increase in the seat load factor to 83.4 per cent. In July, MIA had revised upwards its passenger growth forecast for 2016 to +7.5 per cent to 4.97 million passengers compared to the previous 2016 forecast of 4.73 million (+2.4 per cent) revealed in January 2016.
Tigne’ Mall plc moved 0.1 per cent higher to the €1.081 on volumes totalling 16,300 shares.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index rebounded slightly from yesterday’s three-week low as it advanced by 0.04 per cent to 1,167.515 points. Euro zone sovereign bond yields were less volatile today but they remained close to their recent highs.
Meanwhile, worries over a "hard Brexit" receded on reports that Britain's parliament will play a larger role in the negotiations over the UK’s exit from the EU. Markets will now look for any indication when the US Federal Reserve will hike interest rates from the release of the minutes of its September monetary policy meeting later on today.
On the economic front, fresh data showed that factory output in the euro zone rose by 1.6 per cent in August over the previous month and by 1.8 per cent year-on-year, better than what economists predicted.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Treasury will determine the prices for the two upcoming Malta Government Stocks issues – i.e. the 1.50 per cent MGS 2022 (IV) FI and the 2.10 per cent MGS 2039 (I). Subscriptions will open next Monday 17 October.
This article is provided by Rizzo Farrugia investment consultants.