BOV share price surpasses the €3.80 level

The December rally gathered further momentum during the final trading week of 2010 as the MSE Share Index advanced by 1.5% today on continued gains in each of the three largest capitalised companies. During the month of December, the local equity market has so far risen by 6.6%.

The share price of Bank of Valletta plc managed to recover from last week’s 2.9% decline as the equity touched the 2010 closing high of €3.81 registered on Friday 17 December before closing the day at €3.801 (+2.7% over last week’s close). Volumes in BOV amounted to over 22,000 shares today.

HSBC Bank Malta plc also started the final trading week on a positive note. The equity advanced by 1.6% to €3.15 on volumes of 28,000 shares. HSBC’s share price is at its highest level since 9 April 2010.

Moreover, following the gain of 18.9% last week, International Hotel Investments plc added another 2.3% this morning to regain the 2010 high of €0.90. Volumes however declined from last week’s levels on lack of offers in the market below €1.00. IHI recently announced that it is currently undertaking a private placement of new shares at a price above the €1.00 level.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index declined by 0.14% today to 991.24 points as indicative bid prices of the Central Bank of Malta were revised lower once eurozone benchmark yields again surpassed the 3% level. The market price of the 5.25% MGS 2030 declined by 63 basis points to 102.62% after opening the day at a high of 103%. In the corporate bond market, the 4.25% FIMBank plc 2013 EUR bonds traded up to a new all-time high of 102%.