IHI and Lombard lift MSE Equity Price Index

 

The MSE Equity Price Index resurfaced above the 3,900 level as it rebounded by 0.34% to 3,905.002 points on the back of the gains in IHI and Lombard which outweighed the decline in BOV. Meanwhile, several other equities closed unchanged as overall trading activity improved to €0.28 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

In the retail banking sector, Lombard Bank Malta plc inched 1.1% higher to the €1.87 level as 17,300 shares changed hands whilst Bank of Valletta plc slipped by 1.1% to a 6-week low of €0.88 across heightened activity totalling 63,410 shares.

Meanwhile, International Hotel Investments plc rebounded by 4.6% to the €0.68 level albeit across a single trade of trivial volumes.

Also among the large stocks by market cap, Malta International Airport plc closed flat at the €6.00 level across 7,665 shares after touching an intraday low of €5.90 (-1.7%) whilst GO plc traded unchanged at the €3.40 level as 22,000 shares changed hands.

GO’s data-centre subsidiary, BMIT Technologies plc, remained at the €0.49 level after touching an intraday high of €0.50 (+2%) across 52,200 shares.

Also in the technology sector, the ordinary shares of RS2 Software plc held onto the €1.75 level across 14,000 shares.

PG plc remained rooted to the €2.44 level across a single trade of 4,000 shares.

Elsewhere, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc closed flat at the €8.25 level across four deals totalling 1,720 shares. On 29 September, Farsons is scheduled to publish its interim results for the six-month period ended 31 July 2021.

The RF MGS Index fell for the third consecutive session as it lost a further 0.08% to 1,090.309 points. Today, the European Central Bank kept its monetary policy unchanged but opted to slow down the pace of net asset purchases over the remainder of this year, taking a first small step towards unwinding the emergency aid that has propped up the euro zone economy during the pandemic. Meanwhile in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a mandate from the House of Commons to raise taxes to the highest level on record to fund health and social care. The result allows the prime minister to levy a new 1.25% tax on working Britons and their employers as well as adding an extra 1.25% to dividend tax.