On Thursday the new Bank of Valletta Centre was officially inaugurated. The centre is housed in a purpose-built, modern building that is energy-efficient, enabling the bank to gain added operational efficiencies.

The centre is fully functional and hosts some 25 customer service and other support units, and a complement of over 400 employees.

The bank's shares opened at Lm3.92 on Monday, went down to Lm3.90 on the same day before edging up to close at Lm4.30 on Thursday. This represented a gain of 9.694% on the week, and 38c on last Friday's closing price of Lm3.92.

During the week 283 deals were struck over which 213,460 shares changed hands. Best bids for 3,554 shares at Lm4.25 and best offers of 2,000 shares at Lm4.35 were the best outstanding positions after Thursday's session came to an end.

An increase of 5c5 was registered over the week in HSBC Bank Malta's share price, as trading in the equity opened at Lm8.995 on Monday and closed at Lm9.05 on Thursday. In the interim, the equity reached a weekly low of Lm8.95.

A total of 41,977 shares changed hands last week, spread over 107 deals. Following the close of business on Thursday, best bids for 1,315 shares at Lm9 stood against best offers of 200 shares at Lm9.059.

On Monday, HSBC announced the proposed entering into a number of transactions with related parties by signing five agreements. This has been approved by the bank's Audit Committee after taking into consideration that these agreements respect the "arm's length" principle.

In another company announcement on Tuesday, HSBC announced that the company's board of directors is scheduled to meet on Thursday to consider and approve the group's and the bank's final audited accounts for the financial year ended December 31 and to consider the declaration of a final dividend.

Maltacom shares traded between an opening price of Lm2.12 on Monday and a closing position of Lm2.20. This marked an 8c increase during the week's trading. A total of 212,259 shares changed hands, spread over 143 deals.

Following the end of Thursday's trading session, 2,700 shares at Lm2.19 and 16,859 shares at Lm2.20 were the best outstanding bids and offers, respectively.

The other equities which traded last week, with the trading range in brackets, were: 2,111 Lombard Bank shares (Lm8.999-Lm9.05); 7,291 Middlesea Insurance shares (Lm4.25-Lm4.40); 1,200 Simonds Farsons Cisk shares (85c); 53,271 International Hotels Investments shares (€0.99-€1.019); 7,000 Plaza Centres shares (70c); 8,500 FIMBank shares (US$2.12-$2.15); 45,637 Malta International Airport shares (Lm1.559-Lm1.599); and 4,480 Global Financial Services shares (Lm1.24-Lm1.25).

Total Malta Government Stock turnover amounted to a nominal value of Lm137,100, being traded in 26 deals over 10 different stocks. Trading over the week in corporate bonds was made up of a total value of Lm148,410.

The Malta Stock Exchange Share Index rose 206.63 points or 3.8% over the week and now stands at 5,638.625.

Azzopardi Investment Management Limited is licensed by the MFSA to provide investment services, including stockbroking. The company is involved in acting as sponsoring and corporate stockbroker for various listed companies. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients, are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned.

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