Local equities retreat on low volumes

The MSE Equity Price Index fell for the third consecutive session as it shed 0.22% to 3,735.780 points. The declines in GO and Plaza outweighed the gains in HSBC and APS, while BOV and MIA closed the session unchanged. Today’s trading activity in local equities was muted with just €0.09 million worth of shares changing hands. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

Most of today’s trading took place across the shares of Bank of Valletta plc which closed unchanged at the €1.40 level after recovering from an intraday low of €1.38 (-1.4%) across seven trades totalling 44,105 shares. Shareholders as at close of trading on 26 April 2024 will be entitled to a final net dividend of €0.0455 per share.

Malta International Airport plc traded flat at the €5.75 level as 693 shares changed hands.

GO plc slumped by 4.5% to the €2.96 level, albeit on a single deal of just 358 shares.

Plaza Centres plc plummeted by 6.8% to a six-month low of €0.55 on one trade of 3,000 shares.

HSBC Bank Malta plc advanced by 0.7% to the €1.41 level across two deals totalling 17,530 shares.

A single trade of 3,000 shares pushed the share price of APS Bank plc 0.9% higher to the €0.545 level.

Today, International Hotel Investments plc announced that its Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on Tuesday 30 April 2024 to consider the approval of the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Last Friday, Malita Investments plc announced the result of the rights issue of up to 65,825,806 new ordinary shares (4 new shares for every 9 shares held) at a price of €0.50 per share. Total subscriptions from eligible shareholders and assignees amounted to 55,486,157 new ordinary shares having a total value of €27.7 million and representing 84.3% of the shares available for subscription. These applications were accepted and allotted in full. The Company also received applications for 4,612,372 Excess Shares during the offer period. As a result, the Company will be allocating a total of 60,098,529 new ordinary shares, which translates into net proceeds of €29.9 million. The new ordinary shares will be listed on the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange on 19 April 2023 with trading expected to commence on 22 April 2024.

The RF MGS rose for the second consecutive session as it climbed by 0.13% to 895.824 points. Inflation in Germany during March was confirmed to be at 2.3%, the lowest level since June 2021, driven by lower food and energy prices. Core inflation was at 3.3%, down from 3.4% in February. Last Saturday, the Governor of the Bank of Greece Yannis Stournaras commented that the situations in the Euro Area and the US are completely different, and supported an ECB rate cut in June even if the US decides to leave the federal funds rate unchanged. Furthermore, Lithuanian policymaker Gediminas Simkus noted that the ECB might opt to cut rates during both the June and July monetary policy meetings and stated there may further rate cuts later this year.

This report contains public information only and is not to be construed as investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Information contained herein is based on data obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but no representations or guarantees are made with regard to the accuracy of the data. Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Limited is a company licensed to undertake investment services in Malta by the MFSA under the Investment Services Act, Cap—370 of the Laws of Malta and a member of the Malta Stock Exchange.