The MSE Equity Price Index trended higher for the third consecutive trading session with a gain of a further 0.34% to a five-day high of 4,491.712 shares, largely reflecting the 4% upsurge in the equity of RS2 which outweighed the declines in four other shares.
Trading volumes increased to a three-week high of €0.59 million, driven by heightened activity in the equity of Malita Investments plc which maintained the €0.855 level after recovering from an intra-day low of €0.80 (-6.4%) on robust volumes totalling 284,348 shares. Shareholders of Malita as at close of trading on Monday March 26, 2018 will be entitled to a net dividend of €0.01853 per share.
RS2 Software plc climbed 4% to regain the €1.30 level on four deals totalling 10,100 shares.
Also among the large companies by market capitalisation, Bank of Valletta plc added 0.8% to the €1.83 level across 27,350 shares.
BOV’s insurance associate – Mapfre Middlesea plc – also trended higher today with a gain of 2.2% to the €1.84 level across 33,328 shares. On Friday morning, Mapfre Middlesea reported a net profit of €8.51 million, which is substantially higher than the previous corresponding period. The directors are recommending a final net dividend of €0.1054 per share compared to €0.0383 per share paid out for 2016. Shareholders as at the close of trading on Wednesday April 25, 2018 will be eligible to receive the dividend which is payable on Friday May `8, 2018 subject to shareholders’ approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held on Friday April 20, 2018.
GO, IHI, and Farsons all closed unchanged on light volumes. GO plc retained the €3.60 level on a single deal of just 1,800 shares. On Tuesday, GO published its preliminary statement of annual results for the financial year ended December 31, 2017. The quad-play telecoms operator registered a 6.4% increase in EBITDA to €65.6 million. The directors are recommending the payment of a final net dividend of €0.13 per share which is 18.2% higher than the net dividend for FY2016. Shareholders as at the close of trading on Wednesday April 11, 2018 will be entitled to receive this dividend which is payable on Wednesday May 16, 2018 subject to shareholders’ approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held on Monday May 14, 2018.
International Hotel Investments plc (7,050 shares) and Simonds Farsons Cisk plc (161 shares) held on to the €0.62 and €6.95 levels respectively.
Likewise, four deals totalling 6,200 shares left the equity of Malta International Airport plc at the €4.94 level. On Thursday, the airport operator published the February 2018 traffic results revealing an 18% increase in passenger movements to a record (for the month of February) of 349,430 movements. The strong growth came on the back of the 14% increase in aircraft movements as well as the 15.5% increase in seat capacity. Moreover, the seat load factor improved by 1.6 percentage points to 78.5%.
Meanwhile, the local media reported that Ryanair will be including an additional eight new routes in its next winter schedule between October 2018 and March 2019. As a result, the Irish carrier will operate 48 routes and will be connected to a total of 17 countries from Malta as from October 2018. Ryanair claimed that it is expecting to carry 2.5 million passengers, representing an increase of approximately 14% from the passenger traffic in 2017.
Meanwhile, HSBC Bank Malta plc eased by 0.5% to the €1.94 level across 85,223 shares. Next Monday, the equity starts trading without the entitlement to the recently declared final net dividend of €0.0806 per share.
Plaza Centres plc shed 3.8% back to the €1.02 level across 5,000 shares while a single deal of 10,000 shares pulled the equity of Malta Properties Company plc 0.4% lower to the €0.498 level.
The other negative performing equity today was MaltaPost plc with a drop of 0.5% to the €1.90 level, albeit on trivial volumes.
The RF MGS Index moved higher for the third consecutive day as it added a further 0.2% to a near six-week high of 1,115.457 points. Eurozone sovereign yields trended lower today amid disappointing German, French and Spanish industrial production data for the month of January. Week-on-week, the RF MGS Index added 0.1% as volatility across financial markets intensified on the back of increased political risks in Italy as well as heightened uncertainty arising from the declarations by US President Donald Trump to impose certain trade barriers in the US.
Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.