Traded volumes rise but BOV shares retreat

Bank of Valletta plc’s equity reversed this week’s earlier increases as increasing demand at lower levels was matched by incoming supply. The share price fell 2.4% during this morning’s session to close at the €2.10 level across 27 trades amounting to over 131,600 shares. The equity will trade with the entitlement to the gross interim dividend until Monday 7 May.

Meanwhile, HSBC Bank Malta plc shares gained 1.2% today to close at a one month high of €2.55 across 20,400 shares.

New large sell orders force GO plc’s equity to slide 4% to a new all-time low of €0.72 on high volumes of 500,000 shares ahead of the Group’s Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held on 9 May. Following today’s downturn, GO’s share price, which plunged by 49.4% and 7.9% in 2011 and 2010 respectively, currently lies 26.5% below its value at the beginning of the year.

Elsewhere in the local equity market, Malta International Airport plc inched minimally higher to regain the €1.72 level across five trades totalling 20,000 shares.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index moved another 0.1% higher to a new 3-month high of 989.580 points as Eurozone yields retested its all-time low of 1.6%. This afternoon, the European Central Bank (ECB) maintained its interest rates at the historically low 1% level as the region’s economic troubles deepen.