MSE Equity Price Index climbs to 3-week high

The MSE Equity Price Index climbed by 0.3%% to a three-week high of 3,778.864 points as the gains in IHI and GO outweighed the decline in HSBC. Meanwhile, four equities closed unchanged as today’s trading activity in local equities was subdued at €0.03 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

International Hotel Investments plc surged by 5.3% to an almost one-month high of €0.48, albeit on a single deal of 7,928 shares.

GO plc advanced by 0.6% to the €3.12 level as 1,000 shares changed hands.

In contrast, HSBC Bank Malta plc shed 0.8% to the €1.29 level on one trade of 8,600 shares.

Malta International Airport plc traded flat at the €5.65 level across two deals totalling 360 shares. Yesterday, Malta International Airport plc published the January 2024 traffic results. Passenger movements reached a new record for January and amounted to 465,482 passenger movements, which is 11.3% higher than the previous record registered in January 2020, prior to the pandemic. Passenger movements in January 2024 were also 22.7% higher than the movements registered in the same month last year. Meanwhile, the seat load factor for January 2024 stood at 74% compared to almost 77% in January 2023 and 71% in January 2020. However, the airport operator noted that seat capacity increased by 27.4% when compared to the same month last year.

A single trade of 5,541 shares left the share price of APS Bank plc unchanged at the €0.545 level.

PG plc held the €2.10 level on one trade of 3,793 shares.

Bank of Valletta plc remained at the €1.32 level on trivial volumes.

The RF MGS Index remained virtually unchanged at 887.317 points. Data released today showed that in the United States inflation during January decreased to 3.1% from 3.4% last December. Nonetheless, the decline fell short of forecasts that expected inflation to dip below 3%. In particular, shelter prices increased by 6% when compared to a year earlier. Following the announcement, the US treasury 10-year yield spiked to an over one month high of 4.2%.

Today, the Central Bank of Malta published updated forecasts for the Maltese economy up to 2026. The Central Bank revised the GDP growth rate for 2023 to 6.3% from an earlier estimate of 4.3%, driven by upward revisions to private consumption and net exports. GDP growth is expected to ease to 4.4% in 2024 and 3.3% by 2026. Meanwhile, inflation is anticipated to fall notably from 5.6% in 2023 to 2.9% in 2024 and 1.9% by 2026. Previous inflation estimates were revised downwards as an anticipated decrease in the core inflation rate is anticipated to outweigh the higher food inflation.