The MSE Equity Price Index extended Wednesday's decline of 1.1% by a further 0.23% to a four-month low of 4,417.784 points as the drops in the share prices of HSBC and FIMBank outweighed the gains in BOV and MIDI.

Meanwhile, RS2 Software plc retained the €1.43 level across 15,441 after recovering from an intra-day low of €1.40 (-2.1%).

HSBC Bank Malta plc shed 2.2% to the €1.78 level on heightened activity totalling 113,172 shares. On Thursday, the bank issued an announcement making reference to reports in the local media which referred to an article published on Wednesday by an international news agency speculating on the HSBC Group’s future global strategy. In this respect, HSBC Malta stated that it has no information that requires a further company announcement and that its media policy is not to comment on speculative stories.

Also in the banking sector, FIMBank plc lost 0.9% to the $0.54 level (the lowest since end of November 2015) on two deals totalling 33,286 shares. Eligible shareholders are entitled to subscribe to two new shares for every three existing shares at a rights issue offer price of $0.55 per share.

Bank of Valletta plc reversed some of the recent declines as the equity regained the €1.76 level (+0.6%) across 91,573 shares. Shareholders as at the close of trading tomorrow will be eligible to receive a final net dividend of €0.052 per share.

MIDI plc also performed positively today with a gain of 1.2% back to the €0.35 level across 225,000 shares. MIDI will be publishing its annual financial statements on April 23.

The RF MGS Index climbed 0.11% to a 10-week high of 1,119.448 points. The opening indicative bid price of the Central Bank of Malta for the most recently issued medium-term Malta Government Stock – i.e. the 1.50% MGS 2027 I – reached a fresh all-time high of 104.52% on Thursday compared to the February 2017 issue price of 100.50%. On the economic front, fresh data across the single currency area continued to disappoint expectations.

www.rizzofarrugia.com

Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

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