Daily Market Highlights (05.02.13)

  • The MSE Share Index inched marginally higher to 3,230.636 points reflecting the minimal increases in the share prices of GO, MaltaPost and Island Hotels Group. Meanwhile, HSBC, BOV and Crimsonwing all ended the session unchanged. Download a copy of the Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index edged 0.1% higher to 1,008.908 points as Eurozone yields mainly traded below the 1.65% level reflecting the renewed political concerns with respect to Spain and Italy. Some confidence was restored this afternoon with a rise in the gauge of business activity. Nonetheless, analysts remain cautious given that German business activity rose to its highest levels since June 2011 while the reading for the eurozone’s second largest economy, France, plummeted to an almost 4-year low.
  • The share price of GO advanced for the eleventh consecutive session ahead of the Group’s full-year results publication by the end of April. The 2012 figures are expected to show a profit for the first time in five years given that the investment in Forthnet was practically written-off in 2011. Today, GO’s equity gained a further 0.7% to reach yet another new 18-month high of €1.369 on a single deal of 5,000 shares with lowest offers now placed just above the last closing price and highest outstanding bids in the market at the €1.36 level.
  • Similarly, MaltaPost’s share price moved 0.5% higher for the second successive session to reach a fresh 19-month high of €1.03 on increased volumes of 43,410 shares.
  • A small deal of 50 Island Hotels Group shares was executed at the €0.65 level representing a 0.8% rise from the previous close.
  • Meanwhile, BOV shares failed to hold on to an intra-day high of €2.24 to end this morning’s session at yesterday’s closing price of €2.23 across nine deals totalling just over 9,000 shares. The Bank is shortly expected to publish its Interim Directors’ Statement explaining its performance since the start of the current financial on 1 October 2012.
  • HSBC’s equity held on to the €2.72 level across 36,600 shares ahead of the Bank’s 2012 full-year results publication on 4 March.
  • Similarly, in the IT segment, Crimsonwing maintained the €0.55 level across six trades totalling 74,064 shares. The IT Company is also expected to publish its Interim Directors’ Statement by mid-February to update the market on its performance since its half-year ended on 30 September 2012. During the first half of the 2012/13, the company registered a pre-tax profit figure of €0.55 million.