The MSE Equity Total Return Index recovered last week’s loss by advancing 1.22 per cent this week, closing at 8,538.891 points.

In the equity market, a total of 20 securities were active, of which nine gained ground, while only four headed south. Investment activity increased further, as a turnover €1.91 million was generated over 206 deals.

One of the main drivers of this week’s performance was the banking industry.

HSBC Bank Malta reached a six-week high of €1.75 during mid-week before retracting back to €1.74. The equity traded 22 times, as trading volume amounted to 61,117 shares.

The share price of Bank of Valletta plc was stable as it closed unchanged at €1.75.

The top performer in the banking sector was FIMBank plc, as a single trade of 1,667 shares pushed the equity up to $0.55.

Lombard Bank plc followed suit, as the share price climbed to €2.34 across five deals.

In the telecommunications sector, GO plc held its Annual General Meeting during which the financial statements, and all other resolutions on the agenda were approved. The equity closed unchanged at €3.48.

A marginal gain registered by International Hotel Investments plc early during the week proved unsustainable, as the equity ultimately closed lower at €0.62.

On Wednesday, MaltaPost plc‘s board approved the unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the six-month period ending March 31.

The announcement had no bearing on the share price as the equity closed unchanged at €1.80, on a turnover of €20,403.

Insurance company Mapfre Middlesea plc traded flat at €2.04 over three deals of 3,800 shares.

GlobalCapital plc hiked 6.25 per cent to €0.34, albeit only recording two trades on slim volume.

RS2 Software plc posted successive negative performances during mid-week, sinking to the lowest closing price in five years of €1.18, before settling at a more moderate €1.21 yesterday.

On Wednesday, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc published the financial statements for the year ended January 31, 2018. The group registered a profit before tax from continuing operations of €13.5 million, an increase of 18.2 per cent over the previous year.

The share price was not impacted by the announcement, as it traded flat at €6.70 over three transactions on slim volume.

Retail conglomerate PG plc advanced 0.76 per cent in value to close at €1.32 as 182,740 shares changed hands over ten trades.

Medserv plc traded twice, reaching a record breaking low of €1.00 before rebounding to last week’s closing price of €1.10.

During the financial intermediaries’ meeting held this week, the board explained that although 2017 has been another tough year, judging on the performances of large oil companies, 2018 should be the start of a recovery.

Yesterday at the close of trading, SanTumas Shareholding plc recorded a single transaction of 627 shares which resulted in the share price plunging 33.33 per cent to €1.00.

In the property market, Plaza Centres plc recorded two trades of 96,200 shares at €1.04, thus registering no change in price.

Its peer, MIDI plc traded heavily as 767,500 shares changed hands over 19 deals. During the financial intermediaries’ meeting held this week, the board provided some updates on the Manoel Island Masterplan project, which is the main focus of the company for the near future. The project, which will include 600 units of residence, will be undergoing an environmental impact assessment in the coming months, which the board hopes will be finalised by June.

In the same sector, Malita Investments plc rebounded from last week’s loss as it put on 2.38 per cent to €0.86. A total of 87,560 shares traded over eight transactions.

The top performer of the week was Malta Properties plc as it soared 9.57 per cent to close at €0.515. The equity traded heavily as 313,370 shares changed ownership over 27 trades.

On a negative note, Trident Estates plc dropped a substantial 3.75% to settle at €1.54 ahead of next week’s board meeting to consider and approve the financial results on Wednesday, May 23.

In total, 15,645 shares were exchanged across eight deals It was a negative week for the local sovereign debt market as out of the 25 active issues, 23 declined, while the other two posted a minimal gain.

The largest losses were recorded by the longer-dated securities, particularly the 3% MGS 2040 as it registered a negative movement of 1.62 per cent, to close at €116.90. Similarly, the 2.5% MGS 2036 was down 1.18 per cent to €108.62.

The corporate debt posted rather mixed performances as out of 36 active issues, 16 traded higher while 9 lost ground.

As opposed to last week’s negative performance, the 5% GlobalCapital plc Unsecured € 2021 registered the best performance, that of 2.31%, to close at €99.75.

The 5.75% International Hotel Investments plc Unsecured € 2025 fully erased last week’s gain as it drifted 2.27 per cent at the €107.50 price level.

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