Further losses for equities and Government Stocks

The local equity market closed in negative territory for the third consecutive session. This morning, the MSE Share Index shed a further 1% to drop to 3,395.12 points, a fresh two month low. The Index ends this dismal week 2.4% lower mainly on the back of negative performances by the four largest equities by market cap.

Malta Government Stock prices also suffered further losses as the benchmark eurozone yields recovered from their recent record lows. The longer dated Government paper was the most affected with the 5.25% MGS 2030 (I) issue declining by 160 basis points during the last five sessions to 103%.

HSBC Bank Malta plc reversed yesterday’s gain as its share price dropped 0.7% back to the €2.82 level on volumes of 11,852 shares. Meanwhile Bank of Valletta plc slid from an intra-day high of €3.23 to close unchanged at the €3.20 level. The two banks closed the week 1.7% and 3% lower respectively.

The share price of International Hotel Investments plc slumped a further 4.6% this morning to close at €0.84 representing a 5.6% weekly drop. Following last Tuesday’s allocation of the bonus shares, eligible shareholders have until 29 September 2010 to sell back these shares to IHI at their nominal value of €1.00.

Lombard Bank Malta plc also closed in negative territory on thin volumes. Share price declined by 1.1% to €2.77 – the lowest level since November 2009.