Daily Market Highlights (06.02.13)

  • The MSE Share Index again moved marginally higher to 3,234.073 points as BOV, GO, Lombard and MaltaPost all traded higher. Meanwhile MIA and MIDI eased lower. The only other active equity, HSBC, ended the session unchanged. Download a copy of the Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index eased 0.1% lower to 1,007.823 points in spite of a continued decline in benchmark 10-year German Bund yields which currently lie just below the 1.62% level. Demand for safe-haven assets surged in recent days due to increasing political uncertainty in Spain and Italy.
  • A total of 127,000 MIA shares changed hands during this morning’s session. The share price of the airport operator eased 0.6% lower back to the €1.79 level despite the record passenger numbers for 2012 and the further growth expected in 2013. Moreover, earlier this week, MIA revealed its tenth consecutive monthly record with an 8% growth in passenger movements to 179,243 on the back of a 1.1 percentage point rise in the average seat load factor to 66.3% as well as a 6.2% growth in capacity to 270,400 seats.
  • MIDI shares also closed in negative territory today with a 7.1% plunge back to the €0.26 level across two trades totalling 56,000 shares.
  • Meanwhile, the share prices of GO equity advanced by a further 0.4% to yet another fresh 18-month high of €1.375 on volumes of 6,735 shares.
  • Similarly, MaltaPost’s share price edged another 1% higher to regain the €1.04 level for the first time since June 2011 on volumes of 21,621 shares.
  • In the banking sector, BOV recovered some of the recent declines with a 0.9% increase to the €2.25 level across seven trades totalling 36,913 shares. The Bank is shortly expected to publish its Interim Directors’ Statement explaining its performance since the start of the current financial year on 1 October 2012.
  • The share price of Lombard Bank recouped 1.6% from near its all-time lows to regain the €1.89 level across two trades totalling 14,000 shares ahead of its 2012 results publication on 14 March.
  • On the other hand, HSBC Bank Malta maintained the €2.72 level on volumes of just over 36,000 shares. The Bank is scheduled to publish its preliminary 2012 full-year results on 4 March.