The local sovereign and corporate debt markets registered contrasting performances this week.
Yields in the Malta Government Stocks market continued on their recent upward trajectory as 14 issues traded in negative territory, while only seven issues closed higher.
The largest declines were registered by the longer-dated issues, as manifested by the 0.82 per cent loss in the value of the 2.4% MGS 2041 (I), which closed at €105.17.
Similarly, the 2.3% MGS 2029 (II) extended its negative streak by a further week, as it shaved off another 0.65 per cent from its price.
One of the few exceptions was the 2.1% MGS 2039(I) as it advanced 0.58 per cent to close at €101.33.
Conversely, in the corporate debt market, yields were down as gainers amounted to 17 while only six securities traded lower.
The top performer this week was the 4.4% Von der Heyden Group Finance plc Unsecured € 2024, as it gained 2.24 per cent to close at €102.75.
The 4% International Hotel Investments plc Unsecured €2026 also had a positive week as it fully recovered the previous week’s loss, advancing 1.46 per cent to regain the €104 level.
On a negative note, the 3.75% Bortex Group Finance plc Unsecured €2027 continued on last week’s marginal loss, by falling a substantial 1.98 per cent, to close at €101.55.
In the equities market, the MSE Equity Total Return Index partially recovered from the previous week’s negative performance, as it regained 0.107 per cent, to close at 8,489.028 points.
In total, 22 equities were active during the week, of which eight headed north and six lost ground.
Total turnover was nowhere near last week’s figure of €2.9 million, as less than €1.2 million worth of shares were negotiated this week across 193 deals.
Bank of Valletta plc (BOV) reversed last week’s performance as it recouped 0.29 per cent in value, to recapture the €1.75 price level. A total of 80,330 shares were exchanged over 44 transactions.
The only other equity in the banking industry to record a price movement was HSBC Bank Malta plc, as it repeated last week’s negative performance, losing 1.17 per cent, and retreating to €1.69.
FIMBank plc was rather liquid this week, as 215,000 shares traded over five deals. However, the share price closed unchanged at $0.52.
Similarly, Lombard Bank Malta plc closed the week flat at €2.30.
Telecommunications company GO plc kicked off the week with a 0.58 per cent loss in price to a 16-month low of €3.40, and continued to trade flat at this level throughout the whole week.
International Hotel Investments plc traded 11 times as 44,355 shares changed hands.
Malta International Airport plc climbed 0.81 per cent to return to its record high of €5.00.
Trading volume amounted to 16,380 shares over ten deals.
MaltaPost plc bounced back from the previous week’s loss, as it was up 2.86 per cent to reclaim the price of €1.80.
In the insurance sector, a couple of deals of 4,800 Mapfre Middlesea plc shares had no effect whatsoever on the equity’s price of €2.04 as a single trade of just 253 GlobalCapital plc shares was executed at €0.34 to fully recover last week’s loss. RS2 Software plc traded in negative territory early during the week before bouncing back to an unchanged closing price of €1.17 mid-week.
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc continued on a negative trend as it drifted 0.76 per cent further to a price of €6.50.
In the retail sector, a gain in value of PG plc shares registered on Tuesday proved unsustainable, as the equity retracted to an unchanged price of €1.28 later on during the week.
Oil and gas logistics specialists, Medserv plc started the week with a plunge in share price to a new low of €1.00.
During midweek, the equity partially recovered to settle at €1.05, translating to a weekly loss of 6.25 per cent.
The best performer of the week was SanTumas Shareholdings plc as it continued last week’s recovery to regain an impressive 44.23 per cent to the €1.50 price level on this week’s first day of trading.
Similarly, Loqus Holdings plc hiked a considerable 31.58% to €0.10 as a result of a couple of transactions on slim volume. In the property market, MIDI plc surrendered a small portion of last week’s gains as it was down 0.91 per cent to €0.436.
Plaza Centres plc recorded trades of 54,800 shares, executed at an unchanged price of €1.04.
Likewise, Malita Investments plc closed unchanged at €0.84.
Tigne Mall plc posted solid gains of 4.17 per cent this week to reach a three-month high of €1.00.
Meanwhile, Main Street Complex plc announced that the recent combined offer of over 7.5 million shares in the company offered for sale by Embassy Limited, and over 5.2 million newly issued shares have been subscribed in full.
As a result, the Malta Stock Exchange declared that its shares of a nominal value of €19,384,619 has been admitted to trading.