Shallow trading activity on local equity market

Trading activity declined considerably during this morning’s session with total equity trades amounting to a mere €59,286. Bank of Valletta plc shares were the most actively traded as the equity closed unchanged at the €2.50 level across fifteen trades totalling just over 15,200 shares. The Bank is scheduled to hold its Annual General Meeting on 16 December during which shareholders will be asked to approve a number of resolutions including the recommended final gross dividend of €0.08 per shares and a 1 for 8 bonus share issue.

Meanwhile the equity of HSBC Bank Malta plc recovered minimally from last week’s 3.4% drop following a single trade of 2,000 shares which was executed at the €2.61 level representing a 0.4% rise from the previous close.

GO plc’s share price eased 0.1% lower to €1.039 across one deal of 3,200 shares. Last Friday, Forthnet (in which GO has an indirect investment) announced that the Board of Directors of the Athens Stock Exchange decide to transfer its shares to the ‘Under Surveillance Segment’ in view of the fact that its latest full-year financial results show losses which are greater than 30% of the Group’s equity. In response, Forthnet is scheduled to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on 15 December during which shareholders will be asked to approve a number of changes to Forthnet’s share capital and a €30 million rights issue.

The only other active equity today was MaltaPost plc which reversed last Friday’s 3.1% drop as fresh demand lifted the postal operator’s share price 3.2% higher to the €0.98 level. Six trades totalling 13,000 shares were executed during this morning’s trading session ahead of next Thursday’s full-year results publication for the financial year ended 30 September.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index dropped 0.2% to a new 17-month low of 969.426 points. This was in line with the continued rise in eurozone yields which surpassed the 2.30% level as concerns over the regions’ third and fourth largest economies, namely Italy and Spain, escalate. In fact, various media articles made reference to a potential financial assistance package to be forwarded by the International Monetary fund (IMF) to Italy and Spain. This morning the IMF denied such preparations.