Trading in MIA dominates activity

 

The MSE Equity Price Index edged by 0.1% to 3,912.289 points as the gains in IHI and PG minimally outweighed the drops in four shares. Meanwhile, four other companies closed the day flat as trading volumes amounted to €0.27 million with 40% of today’s activity taking place in MIA. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

Malta International Airport plc retained the €4.96 level after rebounding from an intra-day low of €4.88 (-1.6%) on a total of 22,123 shares. MIA’s Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on 22 April to re-consider the proposed final net dividend of €0.10 per share for the 2019 financial year.

Also among the large companies, Bank of Valletta plc held on to the €1.01 level across 9,753 shares.

Six deals totalling 48,949 shares left the equity of BMIT Technologies plc at the €0.49 level. BMIT will be paying its maiden dividend as a publicly traded company on 4 June. Shareholders as at close of trading on 27 April will receive a net dividend of €0.02157 per share.

In the property segment, Trident Estates plc remained at the €1.32 level whilst MIDI plc lost a further 2.9% to the €0.34 level. Both equities traded on negligible volumes. Trident is due to publish its 2019/20 full-year financial results on 13 May. The Directors will also consider recommending the payment of a dividend.

The worst performing equity today was Simonds Farsons Cisk plc with a drop of 5% to the €8.55 level on activity of 3,043 shares. Last week, Farsons explained that the extraordinary measures implemented at national level related to the ‘COVID-19’ are having a material impact on both the food and beverages sectors of its business. Farsons also added that as part of its mitigation plans, it already started implementing important measures to address the situation, including strict cost control, HR and working capital measures, lower production runs and the deferral of a number of capital expenditure programmes.

HSBC Bank Malta plc slipped 2.1% back to the €0.94 level across 52,482 shares.

GO plc moved 2% lower to the €3.88 level on insignificant volumes.

Meanwhile, International Hotel Investments plc surged by 10.2% to the €0.595 level across three deals totalling 22,000 shares.

PG plc regained the €1.70 level (+0.6%) across 14,311 shares.

The RF MGS Index eased by a further 0.1% to 1,121.668 points as developments across international financial markets continued to be dominated by the ‘COVID-19’ pandemic. On the economic front, industrial production in the euro area dropped in line with expectations in February. In the US, more than 5.2 million persons filed for unemployment benefits last week, pushing the four-week total to approximately 22 million. Meanwhile, credit-rating agency S&P Global is now predicting a 2.4% contraction in world economic output in 2020 as the US and the euro zone see their economies shrink by 5.2% and 7.3% respectively. For 2021, S&P Global expects a strong rebound of 5.9% in global GDP.