The share index extended yesterday’s decline by a further 0.36% to a one-week low of just above 4,700 points.
This largely reflected the declines in the share prices of four large companies by market capitalisation (namely, BOV, HSBC, RS2 and MIA) which outweighed the 0.6% gain in GO which recaptured the €3.49 level on volumes totalling 15,800 shares.
The total value of trades across the equity market fell to €0.22 million today from yesterday’s four-day high of €0.35 million.
Bank of Valletta dropped 1% to the €2.17,9 level across 18,809 shares. The bank is scheduled to hold an extraordinary general meeting on July 27 whereby shareholders will be asked to consider and approve a number of important resolutions regarding the structure of its board of directors and the share capital (ahead of a €150 million rights issue).
Also in the retail banking sector, HSBC retreated by 0.9% to the €2.05,1 level albeit on insignificant volumes. The bank is due to reveal its interim financial results on July 31.
RS2 Software eased for the third consecutive day as the equity slipped by a further 0.3% to the €1.83,9 level across 32,000 shares.
On Monday, Quatrro Processing Services Inc., which is a global FinTech company that specialises in full-service payment processing, announced that it signed a strategic alliance agreement with RS2 to offer an end-to-end hosted credit card processing and acquiring technology platform for banks and financial institutions in India.Commenting on the agreement with Quattro, RS2 CEO and Executive Director Mr Radi Abd
Commenting on the agreement with Quattro, RS2 CEO and Executive Director Mr Radi Abd El Haj said that “RS2’s strategic partnership with Quatrro, the first-of-its-kind with any other payments processing company in the world, will enable us to gain entry into the strategically important Indian market and open up multitude of opportunities for us”.
Malta International Airport eased by 0.2% to the €4.14 level across five deals totalling 9,750 shares. The airport operator is due to reveal its six-month financial performance on July 26. The directors will also consider the payment of an interim dividend.
Malita Investments also performed negatively today with a drop of 1.4% to 73c across 20,500 shares.
Meanwhile, International Hotel Investments and PG traded unchanged on low volumes. IHI maintained its over 28-month low of 60c whilst PG held on to the €1.30 level. Recently, IHI published an updated financial analysis summary providing the forecasts for the financial year ending December 31.
On the bond market, the RF MGS Index extended yesterday’s gains by a further 0.11% to a four-day high of 1,113.990 points as euro zone sovereign yields retreated slightly (bond prices increased) from their recent strong and prolonged rally possibly on renewed concerns about Trump’s alleged connections with Russia during the Presidential electoral campaign last year.
Also in the US, during her testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, US Fed President Janet Yellen was reported as saying that the Fed remains on track to both raising interest rates further and start shrinking its balance sheet before the end of the year, despite low inflation.
Meanwhile, as widely anticipated, the Bank of Canada hiked interest rates for the first time in nearly seven years, making it the first major central bank to follow the US Federal Reserve in tightening monetary policy.
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