Daily Market Highlights (07.12.2016)

The MSE Share Index closed higher for the fourth consecutive trading session as it advanced by a further 0.06% to a fresh two-week high of 4,497.388 points. Trading volumes remained subdued as only €0.11 million worth of shares changed hands. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.

On the bond market, the RF MGS Index trended higher for the second consecutive day as it advanced by a further 0.27% to a five-day high of 1,148.067 points. The difference in the yield between the 10-year Italian government bond and the corresponding benchmark German Bund dropped to a near one-month low today after international financial reports said that the Italian government is likely to step in to rescue Monte dei Paschi di Siena which is the third largest lender in Italy. Meanwhile, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) will be meeting tomorrow to decide the prospects of the current quantitative easing (QE) programme. Many financial analysts are expecting the ECB to extend the duration of the QE programme by a further six months.

The most actively traded equity today was FIMBank plc which regained the USD0.85 level (+1.2%) across 62,620 shares.

Also in the banking sector, the share price of Lombard Bank Malta plc moved 1% higher to €2.101 on light volumes.

GO plc rose by 0.9% to €3.23 after touching an intra-day low of €3.20. A total of 4,075 shares traded today.

Malta International Airport plc maintained the €4.04 level on a single deal of just 2,000 shares despite yesterday’s announcement revealing very strong traffic results for the month of November. MIA announced that passenger movements last month increased by 22% to nearly 346,000 passengers – the sharpest monthly percentage increase so far this year – on the back of a 21.3% increase in seat capacity over the corresponding period last year as well as an improved seat load factor of 82.4% compared to 81.3% in November 2015. Since January 2016, MIA registered an 8.7% increase in passenger movements to 4.75 million when compared to the same period last year. In July, MIA had revised upwards its passenger forecast for 2016 to +7.5% representing an estimated throughput of 4.97 million passengers. However, following the strong performance in November, the Company is now aiming to exceed 5 million passenger movements.

RS2 Software plc closed flat at €1.60 across 6,051 shares.

In contrast, Bank of Valletta plc retreated by 0.4% to drop back to the €2.23 level on volumes totalling 8,372 shares. The Bank is due to hold its Annual General Meeting on 16 December 2016 during which shareholders will be asked to approve a number of resolutions including the final gross dividend of €0.0852 per share as well as a 1 for 13 bonus share issue.

Malita Investments plc fell back to its 2016 low of €0.85 (-0.1%) across 5,000 shares.

Medserv plc extended yesterday’s decline by a further 0.6% to the €1.65 level on trivial volumes.