Daily Market Highlights (17.12.2018)

  • Following three consecutive sessions of declines, the MSE Equity Price Index advanced by 0.57% today to 4,452.068 points on the back of a 9.6% rebound in the share price of RS2 Software plc. BOV and Malita also trended higher today whilst Plaza Centres was the only negative performer. The other three active equities all closed the day unchanged. The strong volumes in GO and RS2 led to an improvement in trading activity with almost €0.4 million worth of shares changing hands today. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.
  • The RF MGS Index was relatively unchanged at 1,089.964 points despite a marginal rebound in the benchmark 10-year German Bund yield to around the 0.26% level. Nonetheless, economic concerns such as weak growth and political issues such as the protests in France continue to limit economic improvements across the single currency bloc.
  • RS2 Software plc jumped 9.6% to recapture the €1.26 level after the company published an Interim Directors’ Statement highlighting the strong business pipeline across all its geographical markets as well as in both its business lines (namely licensing and managed services). Apart from contracted business which is currently being implemented, the announcement refers to potential prospects in Northern Europe for both managed services and licensing, a solid pipeline including Tier-1 financial institutions in North America and potential licence sales as well as managed services contracts with prospective Pan-Asian clients. A total of 128,217 shares traded today having a total value of €0.15 million.
  • Bank of Valletta plc also trended in positive territory today as it edged 0.8% higher to close at the €1.32 level across seven deals totalling 10,170 shares.
  • Malita Investments plc closed today’s session 4.7% higher at the €0.89 level on total volumes of 15,200 shares.
  • On the other hand, the share price of Plaza Centres plc eased by almost 2% to the €1.00 level on a single deal of 14,120 shares.
  • Meanwhile, GO plc rebounded from an intra-day low of €3.84 to retain the €3.90 level on volumes of 49,130 shares.
  • Similarly, HSBC Bank Malta plc maintained the €1.82 level on low volumes of 5,963 shares. Last Friday, the Bank announced it secured a €62 million subordinated loan from HSBC Bank plc which will form part of its Tier 2 capital.
  • Likewise, MIDI plc held on to its previous closing price of €0.65 on a small deal of 2,000 shares.
  • MaltaPost plc published its September 2018 annual financial statements showing a profit before tax of €2.64 million representing a decline of 13.7% from the previous year. An unchanged net final dividend of €0.04 per share is being proposed for approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting on 13 February 2019.