Several equities trade in positive territory

 

The MSE Equity Price Index rebounded by 0.64% to 3.797.625 points as eight equities closed higher today whilst BMIT, Mapfre and MPC all traded flat. Meanwhile, overall trading activity amounted to €0.21 million. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.

GO plc climbed by 1.7% to a fresh 9-month high of €3.56 as 3,000 shares changed hands. Last week GO recommended a record net dividend of €0.16 per share to all shareholders as at the close of trading on Friday 23 April 2021 and will be paid out on Monday 31 May 2021.

HSBC Bank Malta plc added 2.5% as it recaptured the €0.82 level across 10,500 shares.

Today’s best performing equity, Trident Estates plc, surged by 13% to close at a near 2½ month high at the €1.65 level across 25,500 shares.

A single trade of 5,000 shares lifted MaltaPost plc 0.9% higher to the €1.16 level.

Meanwhile, Malita Investments plc added 1.1% to the €0.90 level across 33,700 shares. Malita’s Board of Directors is recommending the payment of a final net dividend of €0.0142 per share to all shareholders as at the close of trading on Wednesday 7 April 2021. The final dividend will be paid on Tuesday 18 May 2021 subject to shareholders’ approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting scheduled to be held on Tuesday 11 May 2021.

In the IT Services sector, RS2 Software plc inched 0.6% higher to the €1.80 level as 3,366 shares changed hands whilst Harvest Technology plc rose by 0.7% to a 5-week high at the €1.48 level across 20,000 shares. Harvest will be publishing its annual financial statements on Friday 26 March 2021. The Board of Directors will also be considering the recommendation of a final dividend.

In the same sector, BMIT Technologies plc closed flat at the €0.53 level across heightened activity of 101,700 shares. BMIT’s Board of Directors are recommending a final net dividend of €0.02922 per share. The final net dividend will be paid on Friday 28 May 2021 to all shareholders as at close of trading on Thursday 22 April 2021.

Elsewhere, Malta Properties Company plc retained the €0.54 level across a single deal of 4,000 shares.

Similarly, Mapfre Middlesea plc traded unchanged at the €2.24 level as 10,100 shares changed hands. Mapfre’s Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on Thursday 25 March 2021 to consider and approve the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2020. The Directors will also consider the recommendation of a dividend.

The RF MGS Index posted its sharpest daily decline in over 4 months as it shed 0.42% to 1,113.441 points. 10-year Euro Sovereign Bond yields surged higher today, mirroring the rise in US 10-year Treasury yields after the Federal Reserve concluded its two-day policy meeting yesterday whereby it stated that it expects core inflation to break above the 2% level this year but to maintain a long-run expectation of around 2%. During the meeting, Jerome Powell and his colleagues continued to project near-zero interest rates through to 2023, although seven of 18 officials predicted higher rates by the end of 2023, slightly higher than the five of 17 officials who predicted higher rates by the end of 2023 during the December gathering. Meanwhile, on the vaccine front, the European Union is bracing for a decision by its health regulator the European Medicines Agency (“EMA”) later today on whether the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe to use, amid concerns about the risk of blood clotting which has led to several countries suspending the inoculation of the vaccine on its citizens.