The MSE Equity Price Index edged minimally higher on Tuesday to 4,453.155 points as the gains in GO and RS2 marginally outweighed the declines in FIMBank plc and Tigné Mall.
A further six equities, including BOV and HSBC, closed the day unchanged. Trading activity slowed down as €0.29 million worth of equities changed hands compared to almost €0.4 million on Monday.
RS2 Software plc extended yesterday’s jump with a further 3.2% increase to regain the €1.30 level for the first time in over seven months across ten deals totalling 44,846 shares.
On Monday, the company published an Interim Directors’ Statement highlighting the strong business pipeline across all its geographical markets as well as in both its business lines (namely licensing and managed services).
Apart from contracted business which is currently being implemented, the announcement refers to potential prospects in Northern Europe for both managed services and licensing, a solid pipeline including Tier-1 financial institutions in North America and potential licence sales as well as managed services contracts with prospective Pan-Asian clients.
GO plc advanced by 2.1% to €3.98 albeit on an insignificant deal of 25 shares.
On the other hand, the share price of FIMBank plc retreated by 0.39% to USD0.745 on volumes of 44,997 shares.
Tigné Mall plc eased by 1% back to the €0.98 level across five deals totalling 40,200 shares.
Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta plc and HSBC Bank Malta plc maintained the €1.32 and €1.82 levels respectively.
Amongst the large equities by market capitalisation, Malta International Airport plc failed to hold on to an intra-day high of €5.95 to end the day unchanged at the €5.90 level on volumes of 7,849 shares.
Similarly, MaltaPost plc closed unchanged at the €1.60 level after temporarily rising to €1.68 across a total of 21,902 shares. Yesterday, the postal operator revealed a 13.7% drop in pre-tax profit to €2.64 million for the financial year ended 30 September 2018.
The directors noted that the drop in profitability was largely due to higher increase in costs than in revenue. Furthermore, the Directors are in discussions with the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) in a bid to increase postal tariffs. The directors recommended an unchanged net dividend of €0.04 per share.
The only two other active equities were Malta Properties Company plc and Mapfre Middlesea plc which ended the day unchanged on shallow volumes.
The RF MGS Index rebounded by 0.12% today to reach a fresh 16-week high of 1,091.324 points as the benchmark 10-year German Bund yield slumped towards the 0.23% level this morning. Investors sought ‘safe-haven’ assets amid rising fears over weak global growth as well as the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
Nonetheless, by this afternoon the 10-year Bund yield regained the 0.25% level following disappointing data on the business climate in Germany which continues to indicate a weaker economic outlook for the entire region and therefore a lower probability of an interest rate hike by the
European Central Bank (ECB) in 2019. Similarly, the Italian 10-year yield also reversed an early dip as the country’s coalition government continues to negotiate with the European Commission over its proposed budget measures.