Daily Market Highlights (19.09.2011)

  • MSE Share Index drops by 1% to 3,101.623 points as index heavy weights HSBC, IHI and MIA closed in negative territory. Meanwhile BOV unchanged after dropping to a low of €2.48. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary .
  • On the bond market, eurozone yields retreated to 1.779% this morning and bond prices rallied as investors sought out safe-haven debt on disappointing developments from euro zone policymakers to tackle the region’s debt crisis. During the meeting for finance ministers in Poland, no new measures were agreed upon to ease the sovereign debt crisis. Meanwhile, Greece pledged that further austerity measures would be forthcoming. Following the decline in yields, the Central Bank of Malta stockbroker raised all MGS bid prices which led to a 0.3% rise in the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index to 992.915 points. The price of the 5.25% MGS 2030 rose by 32 basis points to 102.68%.
  • BOV’s share price closed unchanged at €2.50 after recovering from an intra-day low of €2.48. Volumes increased to over 50,000 shares across 24 trades with further offers remaining unsatisfied at the €2.50 level. BOV’s equity has come under renewed selling pressure in recent days following a fresh judicial protest submitted last week by circa 40 investors against the bank with respect to alleged mis-selling of investments. Last week the MFSA confirmed that it is currently investigating a number of complaints in this regard.
  • HSBC’s equity shed 0.4% to close at €2.689 after it touched the €2.65 level. Activity remains low with only 1,704 shares changing hands today. Lowest offers are now placed below the closing price at €2.675 with highest bids at the €2.65 level.
  • A single trade of 1,400 Malta International Airport plc shares was executed at the €1.51 level representing a 1.3% decline from the previous close. Other bids unsatisfied at the closing price with lowest offers at the €1.53 level. The airport operator recently issued the August 2011 traffic statistics revealing a minimal decline of 0.1% from the all-time monthly record of 427,924 passenger movements recorded in August 2010. During the first eight months of the year, MIA registered an 8.5% increase in passenger movements to just under 2.4 million since the start of the year. Further details available here.
  • IHI’s share price reversed most of last week’s 9.6% rise as it slipped by 5% this morning to close at €0.76 on activity totalling 10,740 shares. On 4th September IHI provided an update on the situation in Tripoli following the downfall of the Gaddafi regime. IHI had indicated that it was restoring its services at the Tripoli Hotel to normal levels as conditions improve and on the expectation of a sharp increase in the demand for services. IHI is also expected to convene a meeting with the financial community later on this week.
  • GlobalCapital’s equity traded for the first time in a month and closed unchanged at its 2011 low of €0.50. 1,000 shares changed hands today with further bids remaining unsatisfied at the closing price.