The MSE Share Index added 0.17% as it closed at 4,583.165 points today – the highest level in over three weeks. Activity was spread across ten equities – seven registered gains whilst three shares suffered declines. Trading activity across the equity market declined to a four-day low as just over €255,000 worth of shares changed hands.
The highest traded equity for today was that of Bank of Valletta plc. The Bank’s share price climbed to a near four-week high of €2.285 (+0.4%) across volumes totalling 41,872 shares.
Also in the banking sector, a single deal of just 1,500 shares pushed the equity of HSBC Bank Malta plc 0.5% higher to the €1.668 level whilst FIMBank plc erased yesterday’s losses as it reached a near two-year high of USD0.74 (+0.8%) across 19,299 shares. FIMBank shareholders as at the close of trading tomorrow will be eligible to the 1-for-25 bonus issue.
The best performer today was Medserv plc as its equity extended yesterday’s gains by a further 1.7% to a 10-week high of €1.80 across 30,050 shares.
International Hotel Investments plc regained the €0.65 level (+1.6%) across 18,908 shares.
Also amongst the large companies, GO plc touched an intra-day, near six-month high of €3.47 before settling marginally above yesterday’s close at the €3.451 level. A total of 6,813 shares changed hands today. The equity will continue to trade with the entitlement to the recently declared final net dividend of €0.10 per share until next Thursday 7 April.
Malta Properties Company plc advanced by another 0.2% to the €0.562 level across 11,925 shares.
Within the same segment, Malita Investments plc continued to trend lower as it shed 2.2% to the €0.90 level albeit on insignificant volumes.
RS2 Software plc closed lower for the first time in the last two weeks. The equity retreated to the €3.751 level (-1.3%) after briefly touching an intra-day high of €3.80 for the second consecutive trading session. Volumes were restricted to 9,720 shares.
Malta International Airport plc dropped by a further 1.0% to the €4.385 level on volumes totalling 2,500 shares. Last Friday, MIA announced that VIE (Malta) Limited – which is ultimately owned by Flughafen Wien AG, the operator of Vienna Airport – will increase its total direct and indirect interest in MIA from 32.94% to 48.44%.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index advanced by 0.15% to 1,157.973 points – the highest level since early March 2015 – as the 10-year benchmark German Bund yield fell below the 0.10% mark for the first time in almost a year. This came about as the Single Currency’s largest economy suffered the biggest fall in factory orders in six months.
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