Daily Market Highlights (04.01.2016)

  • During the first trading session of the year, the MSE Share Index advanced by 0.42% to 4,449.767 points as four equities registered gains and only MIA finished in negative territory. Trading volumes, however, were subdued with under €200,000 worth of equities changing hands. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, the RF MGS Index also started the year on a positive note as it advanced by 0.33% to 1,136.788 points. Heightened diplomatic tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia and a sharp sell-off in equities on weak economic data from China led to renewed demand for safe-haven assets. In fact, the yield of the benchmark 10-year German Bund dropped from the 0.64% level on 30 December 2015 to 0.57% this morning.
  • The equities of the two largest companies – Bank of Valletta plc and HSBC Bank Malta plc – both performed positively. BOV added 0.9% to the €2.37 level across 33,426 shares whilst a single trade totalling just 3,918 shares pushed the equity of HSBC 1.0% higher to the €1.78 level. Bank of Valletta shares will trade with the entitlement to the 1 for 12 bonus share issue until 13 January 2016 and will turn ex-bonus from the following trading day.
  • Yet, the best performer of the day was the equity of MaltaPost plc as it surged 7.1% to the €1.94 level albeit on insignificant volumes.
  • Malta Properties Company plc also trended higher as the equity gained 3% to close at the €0.52 level on volumes totalling 43,200 shares.
  • On the other hand, Malta International Airport plc moved back to the €4.00 level (-0.7%) across 20,140 shares. The airport operator is expected to report record passenger numbers for 2015 with a growth of over 7.3%. Recently, MIA also revealed plans for a €78 million capital investment programme comprising a number of rehabilitation and upgrade initiatives as well as a €40 million business centre (branded SkyParks 2).
  • Meanwhile, three other equities traded unchanged on shallow volumes. FIMBank plc and RS2 Software plc traded at USD0.66 and €3.16 respectively and GO plc retained the €3.02 level across 1,080 shares.