Daily Market Highlights (18.07.12)

  • Very shallow trading activity during this morning’s session. Only €11,550 worth of trades executed across 4 equities. MSE Share Index eases by 0.1% to 3,062.160 points on the back of a 3.2% decline in MIDI’s share price. Meanwhile the other three active equities, namely BOV, HSBC and RS2, ended the session unchanged. Download a copy of the Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index eased marginally lower to 992.116 points as Eurozone yields this morning moved marginally higher ahead of a German Bond auction of 2-year paper. However, by the afternoon, the benchmark 10-Year bund yields slipped back below the 1.20% level as the auction strengthened Germany’s position as a safe haven country amidst the escalating concerns over Spain and Italy.
  • A single trade of 1,000 MIDI shares was executed at the equity’s all-time low of €0.30 representing a 3.2% drop from the previous close.
  • Meanwhile, BOV held on to the €2.05 level across three trades totalling 2,740 shares. Yesterday, BOV issued its Interim Directors Statement covering the Bank’s performance during the third quarter (April to June) of its current financial year ending 30 September 2012. Further details available here.
  • Similarly, 1,450 HSBC shares traded unchanged at the €2.68 level. The Bank is scheduled to publish its half-year results on Friday 27 July.
  • The only other active equity today was RS2 Software which maintained the €0.50 level on low volumes of 3,500 shares.
  • No trades were executed in MIA shares despite yesterday’s interim results publication. The half-year results for the six months ended 30 June 2012 revealed a 13% increase in net profit to €4.48 million following a 0.2% increase in revenue to €22.7 million and a 3% drop in operating expenses to €15.3 million. The airport operator also announced a revised forecast for the 2012 passenger numbers which are now expected to grow by 1.5% to a new record of 3.56 million passenger movements. The Directors declared a net interim dividend of €0.03 per share (unchanged over last year) to all shareholders as at close of trading on 25 July. Further details available here.
  • The subscription period for the new equity issue of Malita Investments plc will open on Monday 23 July. The company is issuing a total of 20,000,000 new ‘B’ shares for general public subscription at the nominal value of €0.50. Malita Investments will have a market capitalisation of €69 million representing a 2.5% weighting in the MSE Share Index. Further details on this IPO available here.