Large caps drag the MSE Equity Price Index lower

 

The MSE Equity Price Index eased by 0.11% to 3,871.160 points as the declines in HSBC, BOV and GO outweighed the uplift in Farsons. Meanwhile, BMIT and Malita closed the day unchanged as overall trading activity contracted substantially to just €0.05 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

HSBC Bank Malta plc moved back to the €0.80 level (-0.6%) after partially recovering from an intra-day low of €0.76 (-5.6%). A total of 14,232 shares changed hands.

Also in the banking sector, Bank of Valletta plc lost 1.1% to the €0.89 level albeit on trivial volumes.

GO plc was the other negative performing equity today as it dropped by 1.2% to the €3.40 level on 1,600 shares. Shareholders as at close of trading on 16 August will receive a net interim dividend of €0.07 per share.

GO’s managed IT services subsidiary – BMIT Technologies plc – stayed at the €0.49 level on a single trade of 20,000 shares.

Three deals totaling 25,000 shares left the share price of Malita Investments plc at the €0.83 level.

Simonds Farsons Cisk plc surged 3% to recapture the €8.50 level on insignificant volumes.

Today, FIMBank plc published its interim results whereby the Bank reported a marginal net profit of USD0.87 million which, in turn, translates into an annualised return on equity of 0.71%. FIMBank explained that the results continued to be marked by the effects of the pandemic. Although the Bank was successful in resolving some recoveries of non-performing legacy cases, on the other hand interest revenue generation remained negatively impacted by the very low interest rate scenario. Look ahead, FIMBank will continue to focus on its key strategic objective of decreasing the size of its non-performing portfolio and improve asset quality. Moreover, the Bank will remain vigilant to cost efficiencies, prioritise investment so as to strengthen corporate governance, risk management and compliance functions, as well as simply operations and businesses.

The RF MGS Index climbed by 0.8% to 1,105.900 points amid signs of cooling inflationary pressures across Europe. Meanwhile in the US, the number of jobless claims continued to fall further for the third consecutive week, fuelling expectations that the Federal Reserve might opt for an earlier tapering of its stimulus measures.