HSBC slides to near 4½ month low

 

The MSE Equity Price Index closed virtual unchanged as it shed just 0.01% to 3,822.899 points as the declines in Farsons, HSBC, IHI and MaltaPost marginally outweighed the gains in BOV and MIA. Meanwhile, BMIT, Harvest and Medserv all closed unchanged as overall trading activity eased to €0.17 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

Simonds Farsons Cisk plc lost 1.2% as it returned to the €8.00 level across 3,750 shares.

Following yesterday’s strong rebound, International Hotel Investments plc retraced by 1.8% to the €0.56 level as 38,000 shares changed hands.

MaltaPost plc fell by 3.4% to the €1.14 level as 2,903 shares changed hands.

In the banking sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc shed 1.9% to the €0.785 level across 23,500 shares – its lowest closing price since 25 November 2020. Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta plc gained a further 2.3% to the €0.90 level as 19,191 shares changed hands.

Elsewhere, Malta International Airport plc edged 0.8% higher as it closed at a near 2-month high at the €6.15 level across 8,901 shares.

BMIT Technologies plc held onto the €0.53 level across 16,500 shares. Shareholders as at close of trading on 22 April 2021 will be entitled to receive a final net dividend of €0.02922 per share.

In the same sector, Harvest Technology plc traded unchanged at the €1.45 level as 8,500 shares changed hands. On or around 9 April 2021, shareholders as at close of trading on 29 March 2021 will received a net dividend payment of €0.02 per share.

A single trade of 1,129 shares left Medserv plc unchanged at the €0.63 level. Today, Medserv announced that it has been awarded a new contract with one of its existing major clients which is an international energy company operating offshore North Africa. This contract is for a period of one year with an option to extend for a further three-year period under the same terms and conditions. The contract relates to the development of offshore projects at the Bahr Essalm offshore gas fields in the central Mediterranean. This major natural gas field project includes the drilling of significant number of offshore wells and the installation of structures. Medserv will provide fully integrated logistics shore base services from its Freeport base in Malta and is expected to manage a considerable volume of OCTG and related equipment. Additionally, a range of vessels will call at the Malta shore base for the completion of this four-year major project.

The RF MGS Index posted a three-day winning streak as it rose by 0.06% to 1,118.190 points. Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”) upgraded its global economic growth forecast for the second time in three months. The IMF is expecting a stronger economic recovery in 2021 as COVID-19 vaccine rollouts continue to gather momentum. The organisation said that it expects the world economy to grow by 6% in 2021, up from its 5.5% forecast in January. Looking further ahead, global Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”) for 2022 is seen increasing by 4.4%, higher than an earlier estimate of 4.2%. On a local scale, the IMF is projecting Malta’s GDP to grow by 4.7% in 2021 (Eurozone: 4.4%) and a further 5.6% in 2022 (Eurozone: 3.8%) whilst its unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.3% in 2021 (Eurozone: 8.7%) and improve to 4.1% in 2022 (Eurozone: 8.5%).