The Equity Price Index rebounded by 0.14% from its four-month low of 4,610.230 points to 4,616.853 points as the gains registered in the share prices of Farsons, PG and HSBC outweighed the declines in GO and Malta Properties.
Trading activity was subdued as only €0.08 million worth of shares changed hands. Despite today’s gains, the index still finished this shortened week 0.52% lower largely on account of the 6.4% decline in the share price of IHI.
PG advanced by 0.7% to recapture the €1.41 after opening at a new record high of €1.41,1. A total of 22,365 shares changed hands.
A single deal of just 500 shares lifted the equity of Simonds Farsons Cisk 2.9% higher to yet another record of €9. The board of directors is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to consider and approve the interim financial statements covering the six-month period ended July 31. The directors will also consider the declaration of an interim dividend.
HSBC advanced by a minimal 0.1% from its 2017 low of €1.90 to the €1.90,1 level across 5,026 shares.
Bank of Valletta maintained the €2.09 level on volumes totalling 14,345 shares.
Malta International Airport held on to its 2017 high of €4.32 across 890 shares. Today, MIA distributed the recently declared net interim dividend of 3c per share.
Very low trading activity also took place in the equities of GO and Malta Properties Company. GO slipped minimally to the €3.51 level whilst MPC plummeted 5.1% to the 50c3 level on a single deal of just 1,600 shares.
Following the marginal gains registered in the previous two days, the RF MGS Index dropped by 0.21% today as the Central Bank adjusted lower its indicative bid prices for Malta Government Stocks in line with developments across international bond markets.
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve concluded its two-day monetary policy meeting during which it left interest rates unchanged at a range of between 1% to 1.25% but announced that it will gradually start reducing its holdings of around $4.2 trillion of bonds and mortgage-backed securities as from next month.
In reaction, bond yields rose sharply even as geo-political tensions between the US and North Korea resurfaced again.
On the economic front, fresh data issued today showed that the level of confidence among German and French purchasing managers within the manufacturing and services sectors exceeded expectations and jumped to multi-year highs in September.
The level of confidence among purchasing managers across the whole of the single currency area was equally buoyant.