Daily Market Highlights (13.07.2015)

  • The MSE Share Index edged 0.2% higher to 4,136.686 points as three of the large caps all closed higher. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index slipped 0.5% to 1,112.145 points. After more than 14 hours of talks, Greece and its euro-zone partners have agreed to begin talks over a third bail-out worth up to €86 billion over three years. News of this deal dampened demand for the “safe-haven” assets and benchmark yields for German bonds rose while yields on Italian and Spanish government bonds declined.
  • GO plc continued to perform positively with an increase of a further 1.1% to a fresh multi-year high of €3.58 across 25,183 shares.
  • HSBC Bank Malta plc also ended the session higher, edging up 1.2% to €1.82 across six trades totalling 19,241 shares. HSBC will be publishing its interim results on 3 August.
  • International Hotel Investments plc rose by 0.6% to regain the €0.86 level on weak volumes of 6,712 shares. Last Saturday IHI announced that the level of acceptances achieved so far in its voluntary bid for the entire share capital of Island Hotel Group Holdings plc (IHGH) reached 94.28%. Shareholders of IHGH have until 31 July 2015 to decide whether they wish to accept the offer.
  • On the other hand, high activity of 51,536 shares took place in Bank of Valletta plc and the equity held on to its €2.30 level after fluctuating between a low of €2.29 and a high of €2.32. Towards the close of today’s trading session, BOV issued its Interim Directors’ Statement informing the market that its financial performance since 1 April 2015 was in line with expectations. BOV reported strong growth in home loans while customer deposits continued to grow especially in the short-term category resulting in a positive impact on the net interest margin of the Bank. BOV also indicated that commissions earned on the sale of financial products continued to grow while other income generated from foreign exchange transactions and investment portfolio gains improved. Meanwhile, costs were higher than those of previous years and impairment charges on specific accounts increased reflecting the deteriorating quality of such accounts.
  • The only other positive performer during this morning’s session was Lombard Bank Malta plc, which edged minimally higher to €1.821 on a single deal of 5,250 shares.
  • Meanwhile, two equities ended today’s session in negative territory. Mapfre Middlesea plc dropped by 4% to €1.67 on a single deal of 550 shares while RS2 Software plc shed 0.7% to the €2.20 level across seven deals for a total of 14,876 shares.
  • In the property sector, Plaza Centres plc held on to the €0.96 level across 3,000 shares while Malita Investments plc closed unchanged at the €0.90 level on volumes of 83,000 shares.
  • A single deal of 2,100 shares in Medserv plc took place at €2.355 while 6PM Holdings plc held on to its GBP0.76 level also on low volumes of 2,468 shares. Last week, 6PM Holdings announced that it was granted approval to issue €13 million in unsecured bonds redeemable in 2025 at a coupon of 5.1% per annum. The company will be granting preference to shareholders and application forms to the qualifying shareholders will be mailed tomorrow.